More relief pours in for victims of flood disaster

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Relief continued to pour in on Friday for the thousands of victims affected by the devastating floods and landslides across Indonesia which have claimed the lives of nearly 150 people over the past two weeks.

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said that the central government is prepared to disburse Rp 500 billion of reserve funds to support people still suffering from the floods and their aftermath.

"If needed, the funds can be channeled to help the victims affected by the disasters anytime," he told journalists in Surabaya, East Java, where he witnessed the handover of medical equipment and ambulances for 20 hospitals from the South Korean government on Thursday.

Sujudi said that the assistance had been set aside for the Ministry of Health from the compensation funds for the recent fuel price increases.

Apart from that, he said, the government has allotted around Rp 128 billion from the state budget to deal with the floods and landslides across the country.

"It should be recognized that the amount of the money earmarked to handle the disasters is very small. That's why we continue to seek additional funds -- one source is from the compensation funds," he said.

Sujudi said that the government has also deployed physicians and medical equipment to help treat the flood victims in Jakarta and other cities.

Aid also came from other countries through their embassies or representatives in Jakarta, including the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, and China.

The European Union (EU) pledged on Thursday to extend Rp 20 billion in aid to flood victims across the country, expressing sympathy for the victims.

Its humanitarian office, ECHO, has been conducting a "first needs" assessment of the situation before disbursing the money.

EU officials said in a press statement that their immediate concern is water sanitation, shelter and essential relief items, emergency food rations, and the provision of drugs for the treatment of water-borne diseases.

Also in Surabaya, Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa delivered Rp 55 million in funds for people suffering after floods and landslides destroyed their homes in Bondowoso, Situbondo, and Trenggalek regencies.

Of the fund, Rp 30 million goes to Situbondo; the worst hit town, Rp 15 million to Bondowoso; and Rp 10 million to Trenggalek.

Meanwhile, more than 6,000 refugees remained stranded in the Central Java town of Kudus on Friday, after fresh flooding inundated their houses, beginning on Wednesday night.

They were housed in temporary, makeshift accommodation centers like mosques, schools, and the city's legislative building.

The affected areas included the villages of Jetis Kapuan, Jatiwetan, Jatikulon, Karangturi, Setrokalangan, and Kaliwungu, where the water level measured one meter in depth by Friday.

It had risen to 2.5 meters in certain areas, however.

Another 4,500 refugees in neighboring Jepara town, 60 kilometers east from the Central Java capital of Semarang, were still not able to return home, as floodwaters were still at between 100 and 150 centimeters in depth.

Most of them came from Welahan, Batukali, and Ketilengsingolele villages, the worst areas hit by the flooding after the collapse of two embankments there, triggered by the overflow of the Kali Wulan river.

Japara Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Endang Sanjaya told The Jakarta Post that the floods had also disrupted the main Surabaya-Semarang route, where the depth of water had leveled off at 70 centimeters.