Mass burials in East Nusa Tenggara as death toll rises

MAUMERE, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Breaking with local custom, East Nusa Tenggara authorities were forced on Friday to conduct a mass burial as the death toll due to floods in the region rose to 148.

Reports received from the affected districts of Central Malaka and West Malaka in Belu regency said the authorities had held a mass burial for 81 people.

"Mass burials are actually against local tradition, but we are facing an emergency situation," provincial government spokesperson Nani Kosapilawan said on Friday.

The number of dead could easily multiply in the coming days as some 125 people are still classified as missing. Flooding and heavy rains have been reported since Tuesday.

Assistance is coming in from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has sent search and rescue teams to the low-lying Belu regency.

The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has also deployed three helicopters to join search and rescue efforts.

Nani admitted that the provincial administration's facilities were extremely limited and that it only had a single rubber boat to help in the search operations.

Nani said the two international bodies were fully cooperating with the local administration in searching for missing victims and evacuating residents in the two worst hit districts.

She further pointed out that another major impediment hampering the search and rescue teams was the fact that Banunaen Bridge, the only bridge connecting Central Malaka and West Malaka districts, had been swept away in the flood.

She said flood waters had now risen to up to two meters.

Nani said about 16,000 of the 100,000 people living in the two districts, located near the border with East Timor, were East Timorese refugees.

"Most of the dead and missing victims are likely to be East Timorese refugees," Nani speculated, adding that of those registered as missing, 23 were from West Malaka and 102 from Central Malaka.

She added that further assistance from the Indonesian Military (TNI) was on the way, with 15 doctors being dispatched.

A UNHCR spokesman in the East Nusa Tenggara provincial capital of Kupang, Jake Morland, also said the number of deaths "may go much higher as we get a clearer picture of what's going on."

"It's still raining here," he added.

Much of the region has now been cut off after roads and bridges collapsed after three days of continuous rain.

He said that up to 20,000 people had been seriously affected by the flooding and "are on the move".

President Abdurrahman Wahid expressed his deep sorrow over the tragedy and promised to build better irrigation systems, including dams, to help control floods during the rainy season in the regency.

"I have ordered the minister of home affairs to prepare the irrigation construction," the President said before leaving Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, after a brief visit to the province. (yac/prb)