Heavy rains spell disaster in several provinces

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

While many provinces have enhanced their preparedness for possible disasters during the rainy season, floods and landslides have brought suffering to many people in other provinces.

A heavy downpour and strong winds caused a flash flood and landslides in Alor, East Nusa Tenggara, destroying 151 houses on the island.

The flood and landslides that hit the island on Friday also destroyed a 2,500-meter section of asphalted road, three bridges and 35 hectares of sweet corn.

So far, no fatalities have been reported in the disasters.

Assistant to the secretary of the Alor regency administration Anwar Djawa, said on Saturday, all people whose houses were destroyed by the disasters have already been evacuated to safer areas but they refused to stay inside the houses or temporary shelters for fear of further floods.

"The local administration has dispatched food and medicine and established temporary shelters in safer areas. All school activities have been suspended until the flood subsides," he said, saying it was still raining in the regency capital of Kalabahi all day long on Saturday.

He said the floods and landslides had affected the subdistricts of West Alor, East Alor, Pantar, North Central Alor and Southeast Alor.

In Atambua, the flood that claimed the lives of dozens of people recently has abated but flood victims have not returned home for fear of more flooding because it has continued to rain after the recent flood.

Belu Regent Marsellus Bere, said his administration was still counting the material losses caused by the recent disasters in efforts to seek financial assistance for all victims from the central government.

Around 35,000 people in 19 villages in the regency are awaiting assistance from the government since their houses, belongings and rice fields were destroyed in the recent disasters.

A total of 30 people were killed when floods hit two subdistricts in the regency in 2000.

In the northern part of West Java, floods have damaged a total of 40,000 hectares of rice fields and inundated around 4,000 houses in 20 villages in the regencies of Karawang, Indramayu and Cirebon.

Indramayu Regent Irianto Syafiuddin along with Iwan Hendrawan, chairman of the regency legislature, called on local people to be prepared for possible worse floods in the coming two weeks.

He said the local administration had equipped the local search and rescue team with rubber dinghies and medicine to help flood victims.

The flood has also inundated around 8,000 hectares of rice fields and 3,000 hectares of shrimp ponds in the regency.

In Padang, West Sumatra, provincial authorities have called on local people to improve their preparedness in case of floods and landslides due to the continued rain and strong winds in certain areas in the province.

"Padang, Solok, Bukit Tinggi and Padang Pariaman are quite prone to floods and landslides," Idham Firmanta, spokesman for the provincial administration said on Monday.

Around 200 square meters of farmland in a village in Brebes, Central Java, were destroyed in a landslide caused by incessant rain in the regency.

In Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, businessman Irwan Gunadi, the head of Bina Benua Group, called on residents in the city to continue to stay alert in case of floods due to the higher rainfall in the city.

He said the rainfall had been between 50 millimeters and 100 millimeters above the normal level of 200 millimeters per day for the wet season.

"The city is quite prone to floods because of environmental deterioration and the numerous rivers that pass through the city," he said.