Thousands Flee Indonesia Landslide Fearing New Calamity

Rescuers search for dead bodies at a landslide site in Manggarai, Flores Island, 04 March 2007. Rescuers in Indonesia were forced to use shovels to dig for dozens of people still missing after a series of landslides and flash floods killed at least 34, officials said. Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
Kupang (AFP) Indonesia, March 6, 2007
Thousands of people have fled areas near deadly landslides in Indonesia fearing heavy rain could trigger a new disaster, as the rescue operation intensified on Tuesday, officials said. Some 2,500 anxious villagers on Flores island, where landslides and flash floods on Saturday killed at least 36 people, had sought safe shelter away from their homes, relief worker Johny Erasmus told AFP by telephone.

He said some went to Ruteng, a town on a key road leading to the villages the landslides overwhelmed some 35 kilometres (21 miles) away.

The road was blocked but has been cleared, allowing aid and machinery to reach the disaster site and intensifying the search for the 38 still missing.

"Access was re-established Monday afternoon and relief has now reached the affected areas," said Joos Mono, a rescue coordinator in Ruteng.

Teams of people had been using shovels to dig for the dozens still missing and lugging supplies to the disaster site by foot.

Landslides are a persistent problem in Indonesia. Last year they killed hundreds of people in a central Javan village and since then scores have died in similar incidents elsewhere in the country.

A nearby cyclone has worsened weather conditions on Flores, which lies 1,700 kilometres from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Authorities have said there is an urgent need for food, tents, raincoats, mosquito nets, portable power generators and lamps in the disaster zone.

Relief efforts are focused on two villages, Gapong and Goreng Meni, where the bulk of those missing are buried.

The landslides destroyed many rice fields, which could lead to local food shortages, and knocked out telephone lines. Search and rescue teams are relying on citizen band radio to communicate with each other.

Heavy rain in Flores on Thursday last week forced 11,000 people in an area known as Reok to leave their homes as floods and landslides struck.

The Indonesian monsoon season is at its height, with heavy rains causing landslides and flooding in various parts of the archipelago.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Death And Destruction After Powerful Indonesia Quake

Jakarta (AFP) March 06, 2007
Panic-stricken people on Indonesia's Sumatra island ran from homes, hospitals and schools as a strong earthquake struck Tuesday, killing at least 82 and destroying buildings, trapping many under rubble. Television images showed collapsed homes and offices, with others still standing but scarred by giant cracks and listing precipitously.

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