Flood hits Sumbawa, thousands evacuated
Monday, December 4 2000 - 02:00 AM WIB
A big flood hit Taliwang district in Sumbawa regency, West Nusa Tenggara, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes Sunday.
The flood has disconnected traffic between Taliwang and Sumbawa Besar and also between Taliwang and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara gold mine in Batu Hijau, causing concern over food supply to the mine site. Telephone lines were also disconnected, Antara reported.
Spokesman of the Sumbawa administration, Syaikhuddin Husain, said there were no casualties reported yet although there was an unconfirmed report that a boat carrying a family had overturned.
The flood, with water reaching up to two and half meters high, was due to the overflowing of a dam built around Taliwang two years ago and the overflowing of the Eneh and Rea rivers.
According to Syaikhuddin, the flood was the biggest in the last 50 years.
The local administration has built communal kitchens and tents to feed and provide shelters to the flood victims who had to leave behind all their belongings.
According to Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) data, approximately 49 percent, or 139 regencies, in Indonesia are prone to natural disasters.
The latest devastating wave of disasters has hit several areas in Aceh, North and West Sumatra in the past few days, leaving dozens of fatalities and thousands of people homeless. (*)