Storm leaves 200 homeless

BANDUNG, West Java: A storm that hit Ciamis in West Java on Friday has left 200 people in Cipaku subdistrict homeless.

Cipaku subdistrict chief executive Odang Erwijaya said that the brief but intense storm had affected three villages in the subdistrict for approximately three minutes, knocked down hundreds of mature trees and damaged 4000 houses, 30 of which were badly damaged.

"The damaged houses belonged to poor villagers who now need emergency aid to survive and emergency tents to live in temporarily," he said here on Saturday.

He said the disaster was estimated to have inflicted more than Rp 1.2 billion (US12,000) in material losses on the villagers. --JP