Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Indonesia

Landslide and floods kill at least 16 in Indonesia

Jakarta (dpa) - Landslides and floods swept through two different provinces in Indonesia, leaving at least 16 people dead, dozens missing and hundreds homeless, officials and news reports said Wednesday.
A landslide, triggered by torrential rains, occurred in West Java at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, burying dozens of houses in two villages of Garut district, 150 kilometres southeast of Jakarta, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

As of Wednesday morning, rescue workers had recovered 12 bodies and saved five of the injured, Syaiful, an official at Garut's social affairs office, said in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

Antara reported that as many as 524 families were living in the two villages hit by the mudslides. Rescue workers were still searching for missing members of 36 families.

The landslide also cut off railway traffic linking the Indonesian capital Jakarta to cities in Central and East Java via southern railway tracks, railway officials said.

Meanwhile, floodwaters swept through dozens of villages in Indonesia's Riau province on the eastern part of Sumatra, leaving at least four people dead and forced hundreds of others to flee their homes.

Triggered by several days of heavy rains, several rivers in Riau's Indragiri Hulu district overflowed their banks and inundated dozens of villages, Jakarta's leading Kompas daily reported.

Sjahril M.S., head of Riau's social affairs office, said up to 2,135 homes in 58 villages in six sub-district areas were inundated by the flood, adding that four people drowned when their small boat capsized in the Indragiri River.

More than 500 residents have been forced to flee their homes in Rengat sub-district, he said, adding that the heavy flooding in Riau also cut off land communications connecting cities in the eastern part of Sumatra because roads at several places were inundated up to one meter.

dpa sh pj pw

Copyright (c) 2003 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 01/28/2003 23:26:58

Disclaimer

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Copyright (c) dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH