Government gives Rp 3m in aid to West Sumatra

Government gives Rp 3m in aid to West Sumatra

PADANG, West Sumatra (JP): On behalf of the central
government, Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure
Erna Witoelar handed over on Wednesday Rp 3 billion to the West
Sumatra administration for the repair and rebuilding of
infrastructure damaged by recent floods and landslides.

Erna said during her visit to the province that the government
had initially allotted only Rp 900 million, "but seeing the real
situation here, we decided to increase the amount to Rp 3
billion."

She said the money was set aside from her office's money
allocated in the 2000 state budget.

Erna, accompanied by Minister of Health and Social Welfare
Ahmad Sujudi and a number of members of the National Disaster
Management Board (Bakornas), was on a three-day visit to the
disaster-hit areas of West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh.

Together with Erna, representatives of the Minang (West
Sumatra) community in Jakarta also donated 10 tons of rice to the
families, in the disaster affected areas. Bakornas provided 40
tons of rice and Rp 50 million cash, while the National Social
Coordination Board handed over 100 tons of rice and Rp 50 million
cash.

As of Wednesday 74 bodies have been recovered and 41 people
reported missing, believed to be buried under the mud and debris.

The villages of Talawi in Pesisir Selatan, Malalo in Tanah
Datar regency and Bukitganting in Pasaman regency were the
hardest hit areas.

However, the search for bodies in Pasaman was halted on
Wednesday due to bad weather, while the SAR teams found it
difficult to reach the devastated area.

West Sumatra administration spokesman Yuen Karnova said that
the search for more victims might be stopped in all areas due to
bad weather.

Locals said that arbitrary deforestation had caused the
disasters, citing that floods had never occurred before in the
regency of Pasaman.

However, a geologist said that West Sumatra was the second
most vulnerable area to landslides in Indonesia after West Java.
The third is Central Java.

The head of the Natural Disaster Section at the Directorate of
Environmental Geology, Sutikno said on Tuesday that Pasaman and
Lima Puluh Kota regencies and the hilly areas leading to
Bukittinggi were all prone to landslides.

"We have studied these areas a long time ago and have sent the
result of our survey to local administrations some years ago in
order that they take necessary preventive actions. The local
administrations seem to be unaware of our reports."

"Unfortunately, the victims are mostly poor villagers, who
receive little information about the landslides."

"Such lack of knowledge has been demonstrated by most of the
local administrations. They usually fail to disseminate reports
on the danger of landslides and other kinds of natural
disasters."

Most of the landslides in Indonesia are caused by volcanic
sedimentation which causes the formation of steep valleys and
weak structure of rocks, said Sutikno.

"Annually there are between 56 and 88 landslides occurring in
Indonesia with a total of between 34 and 200 victims."

Other areas

In Banda Aceh, the newly installed Aceh governor Abdullah
Puteh said that a special investigation team had been working to
find out the number of victims from the floods. The latest death
toll reached 16, and 25 people were reported missing.

Puteh said that the investigation team found it difficult to
work in the regencies of Bireuen, North Aceh and Singkil where
until Wednesday the water had yet to recede.

In many other flood-hit areas, flood water had receded,
however, telephone lines and electricity supply were still
disrupted on Wednesday.

The floods, dubbed the worst in (Aceh) history, also destroyed
several bridges and cut off major streets. Intercity
transportation had not yet returned to normal, with only a few
public minibuses starting to operate on alternative routes.

Separately, in the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda,
thousands of houses were inundated by water from the rivers of
Karang Mumus and Mahakam following heavy downpour over the last
three days. Water levels reached two meters high in some areas,
Antara reported on Wednesday.

While in Jambi, three people were killed by the recent flood
which also destroyed more than 200 buildings, including houses,
school buildings and mosques in Kerinci regency. Torrential rains
were blamed for the calamity.

Kerinci Regent Fauzi Si'in said the three areas most severely
hit by the floods were Gunung Kerinci, Hamparan Rawang and
Keliling Danau districts.

The regent estimated that the disaster had caused at least Rp
66 billion in material losses.

Records indicated that the mudslide and flood in Jambi also
destroyed at least 23 bridges and obstructed roads, including the
provincial road, linking Kerinci regency to West Sumatra.
(28/50/lup/sur)