More die as floods, landslides rise
More die as floods, landslides rise
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Days of incessant rain have caused floods and landslides to
increase in several parts of Indonesia, leaving more people dead
and thousands of houses inundated, some of them buried or
destroyed.
At least three people were killed and 38 houses destroyed as
flooding and landslides struck Aralle village in Polmas district,
South Sulawesi, on Sunday.
Two of the dead, Dameng and Baco Gani, were found dead after
being buried alive by mud, while the other, Pua Hakim, was swept
away by floodwaters, Antara news agency reported.
Polmas district head Hasyim Manggabarani was quoted as saying
the landslides occurred at 1:30 a.m. following three days of
continuous rainfall.
There was no immediate report of material losses caused by the
disaster.
The local administration has sent food and medicine to flood
victims, and an excavator to remove mud covering roads in the
village.
On Friday, at least 10 bodies were found when landslides swept
through Gunung Kemala village in Karya Penggawa subdistrict in
the district of West Lampung on Friday.
Local police said on Sunday a girl, identified as Vera, 15,
was still missing and feared dead.
Another 50 people injured by landslides at more than 40
locations were being treated at local community heath centers in
West Lampung.
Roads linking Lampung with the adjacent province of Bengkulu
through Liwa district remained paralyzed on Sunday as several
bridges were swept away by floodwaters.
West Lampung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Rahmat Fudail said it
would take at least one week to repair the buried roads if the
heavy rains stopped.
The Lampung provincial administration sent food and medical
assistance to the affected area by helicopter.
Floods also inundated thousands of houses in the Central Java
town of Cilacap on Saturday. Floodwaters were still between 50
and 150 centimeters high on Sunday.
The floods followed the overflow of nine rivers -- the
Cimeneng River, the Darmaji, the Cibogo, the Citayem, the
Cikalong, the Citengah, the Cawitali, the Ciloning and the
Ciberem River.
In the worst hit village of Rawajaya in Bantarsari
subdistrict, around 1,241 houses were flooded to a height of
between 1 meter and 1.5 meters. At least 50 families fled to
safer areas.
Flooding in Bantarsari also inundated several community health
centers and elementary schools, head of the Cilacap social
affairs office Wasi Ariyadi told Antara.
The Cimeneng River burst its banks and cut off the road
connecting Rawajasa and Bantarsari as the bridge there was swept
away.
Cilacap Regent Probo Yulastoro said search and rescue workers
had sent rubber dinghies and other equipment to the affected
areas.
The local administration also distributed food and opened
makeshift public kitchens for flood victims, he added.
Hundreds more houses were submerged by flooding in the
district of Hulu Sungai Tengah in South Kalimantan as the Barabai
River burst its banks. No casualties or damage was reported.
The trans-Kalimantan highway in the Pajakungan area leading to
East Kalimantan was inundated by water almost one meter high.
Meanwhile, some landslide-affected roads along Sumatra
island's western coast motorway in the southern part of Bengkulu
province had returned to normal on Friday.
Landslides had paralyzed the traffic on routes linking Tais-
Maras and Manna-Bintuhan after heavy rains drenched the area in
the past few days.
Earlier this month, a mudslide killed at least 26 people in
Padusan hot springs in the Pacet resort in Mojokerto, East Java.
Environmentalists blamed the disaster on state-owned forestry
company PT Perhutani for failing to stop deforestation and
illegal logging.