Government overwhelmed by cost of floods
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)