More storm likely within a few days

The Jakarta Post, Surabaya/Kupang

A senior government official warned on Thursday that residents in the southern and eastern regions of Indonesia had to remain vigilant, as severe storms, which have been pounding three western provinces in the country recently, would expand to other areas.

Those areas in question are the Arafura Sea, Maluku, South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.

"The storms will hit these areas within one or two days. Sea and air transportation companies have to be on high alert," Achmad Zakir, the head of Weather Forecast and Meteorology Service at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), told The Jakarta Post by phone.

Achmad was commenting on the storms that hit East Java, Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara provinces on Tuesday and Wednesday, which killed at least two and damaged hundreds of houses in the affected areas.

Heavy storms also struck the East Nusa Tenggara regency of Manggarai on Flores Island. Two were killed and six others have been reported missing.

At least 11 houses were completely swept away, while hundreds of others were inundated and 20 others were severely damaged. Many parts of Manggarai were inundated by floodwaters up to 2.5 meters high.

Agustinus Ampur, the head of Information and Communication Agency at the Manggarai regency government, said on Thursday that the six people were missing.

The floods also cut all roads connecting to Ruteng, the capital of Manggarai regency. "We will fix the problem immediately, and the regent himself has put it as our main priority in the aftermath of the floods," he said.

In East Java, the area which was hit hard by the storms, some of the floodwaters had begun to subside on Thursday.

As the water has subsided in many areas, residents in Malang, Pasuruan, Mojokerto and Batu began to clean up and repair their damaged homes.

In Mojokerto, traffic has reported running normally, unlike the first part of the week when most of roads here were under water.

Most of the refugees from Suko district here, who had been camping out in front of the office of the Mojokerto regency administration since Wednesday, had already returned home.

In order to help ease the burden of the victims of the floods, East Java provincial government has prepared Rp 70 billion in contingency funds.

"The funds will be used to provide food for the victims and repair the damaged roads and bridges," said East Java Governor Imam Utomo.

The massive damage in East Java has also attracted attention from the central government. Jusuf Kalla, the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and also a presidential hopeful from the Golkar Party, is scheduled to visit East Java this Friday.

Separately, a non-governmental organization (NGO) activist from Care for the Environment, Syarifuddin Ngulma, lashed out at the government, saying that the natural disaster was caused by the failure of the government to protect the environment, including its failure to prevent illegal logging.