More storm likely within a few days

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.