Government overwhelmed by cost of floods
JAKARTA (JP): The government has complained about its lack of funds to finance reconstruction projects in provinces recently racked by floods and landslides.
Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Erna Witoelar said on Monday that there was no special budget for resettling people whose homes were swept away by floods.
"We allocated some Rp 11.5 billion (US$1.2 million) recently for infrastructure rehabilitation in West Sumatra, North Sumatra, Aceh and Jambi," Erna told a news conference at her office.
"But we are having difficulty in providing homes for the victims and refugees, because there is no special budget allocated for that."
Therefore, she asked people in those provinces to help one another by contributing material to build new houses.
The budget, she said, was used to repair public facilities, including roads and bridges, which were either damaged or destroyed during the natural disasters.
The latest disaster has hit several areas in Aceh, North and West Sumatra over the past few days, killing dozens of people and leaving thousands of others homeless.
The ministry said that so far in West Sumatra 45 people were dead, 56 missing and 7,884 people were left stranded by the floods, which also caused some Rp 300 billion ($31.6 million) in losses.
In North Sumatra, 11 people have been killed, 21 reported missing and 70,843 people are stranded and facing food shortages as access to the areas has been cut off by flooding and landslides.
In Aceh, the ministry recorded some 20 fatalities and 297,203 people left homeless, with a total loss of about Rp 301 billion ($31.7 million). The floods have also caused electricity and telecommunication blackouts in some areas.
Meanwhile in Jambi, at least five people have died, one reported missing and 8,351 refugees displaced. The material loss is estimated at about Rp 71.5 billion ($7.5 million).
In North Sulawesi, floods and landslides have left some 35,000 people seeking refuge and caused Rp 180 billion ($18.9 million) in losses.
According to data from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), approximately 49 percent, or 139 regencies, in Indonesia are prone to natural disasters.
Erna warned that major flooding could hit the other Sumatra towns of Lampung and Palembang next.
River
To make matters worse, Erna said, the recent floods were more destructive than in the past.
"Recent floods have been more dangerous than previous times because the water is carrying sediment from the landslides," she said.
As a result, people are finding it more difficult to swim as the rivers have become denser and can easily sweep homes away.
The problems, Erna said, lie with the higher level of rainfall and environmental destruction, as seen in deforested hills, which decrease the soil's ability to retain water. It has also resulted in a higher content of sediment in the rivers.
"Many rivers are in critical condition now. The sediment makes the rivers hold less water volume," Erna said, adding that Citanduy river in West Java holds 5 million cubic meters of sediment per year as an example.
On the contrary, the rivers are prone to drought in the dry season.
"The sediment should be dredged but there is no budget for that," she said. (hdn)