Villagers ask to be resettled

Villagers ask to be resettled

NABIRE, Irian Jaya: As many as 256 families living near Lake Paniai in the East Paniai subdistrict, fearing repeated floods, have asked the local administration to resettle them in other regions.

The 14,900-hectare lake has been overflowing since last month, inundating hundreds of houses and destroying more than 1,000 hectares of fields. Incessant rains caused the flooding, but the condition was aggravated by the fact that some natural water canals are no longer functioning.

The Antara news agency quoted spokesman Ardiwinata as saying that the local administration has planned to build irrigation canals to solve the problem.

The same problem has occurred in neighboring Lake Igi in the Igi subdistrict. There, the 3,500-ha lake has been flooding houses in the surrounding 12 villages, destroying 500 ha of fields. (01)