APD | 70 killed in Indonesia’s Papua flood

By APD writer Aditya Nugraha

JAKARTA, March 18 (APD) – At least 70 were killed in the flood that raged in Indonesia’s Papua province regency of Jayapura, displaced over 4,150 residents who now are sheltered public buildings, a spokesman at Papua military command headquarters said on Sunday.

“The number of bodies received by Marthen Indey and Bhayangkara hospitals from the flood has reached 70 at present,” Cendrawasih Military Command Headquarters Spokesperson Muhamad Aidi, referring to bodies recovered from the flood that raged in the regency’s districts of Sentani and Waibu on Saturday.

“Number of death toll may rise further as we received many reports on the missing ones filed in by their families,” Aidi added.

The death toll figure came up from bodies found in the two districts and the ones retrieved from mud and debris from a landslide caused by the flood, he added.

The flood that resulted from heavy downpour throughout Saturday has affected 9 villages in the regency.

Some 59 residents were reported of sustained injuries in various degrees, now have been rushed to several hospitals in the regency, he added.

The thousands of displaced residents are now sheltered in several locations considered safe in the regency, he said.

The raging water from the flood has damaged at least 350 houses and 3 bridges and roads in the affected villages.

Spokesman of Papua provincial police Ahmad Mustafa Kamal said the flood also inundated traditional markets, worship places, stores and hospitals that received those affected by the disaster.

Some aircrafts parked in Sentani airports were also damaged by the flood, he added.

Police have identified part of bodies received in the hospitals with several of them have been picked up by their families and immediately buried on Sunday, he added.

He expected that identification process on all bodies received by the hospitals could be settled later in the day.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)