REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Ministry of Social Affairs will send another batch of aid to the victims of flash floods in North Sulawesi Province.
"We will dispatch aid and assistance again such as food stuff, side dishes and clothes," Margowiyono, the director for natural disaster protection of the Ministry of Social Affairs, stated here on Thursday.
The Ministry of Social Affairs' buffer stock assistance has been taken to the evacuation centers since last Wednesday night, he noted.
"Since December 2013, we have dispatched Rp603 million worth of buffer stocks and assistance such as rubber dinghies to North Sulawesi's Social Affairs Service," Margowiyono explained.
He has also received reports that the flash floods had submerged the office of the ministry's social affairs service in North Sulawesi. Luckily, the location of its warehouse was high enough where the buffer stocks were safe from water inundation.
The Social Affairs Ministry's director pointed out that his ministry has provided emergency response assistance worth Rp3.2 billion in 2013.
"We have sent assistance since flash floods and landslides affected the province from February to December 2013. We have planned to dispatch another batch of assistance," he explained.
Besides logistic assistance, the Social Affairs Derives of North Sulawesi has also deployed about 400 rescue workers to help evacuate residents.
A flash flood hit North Sulawesi at 11.55 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The floods occurred in six districts/municipal cities, namely Manado City, the districts of North Minahasa, Tomohon City, South Minahasa and the Islands of Sangihe.
A total of 13 people have been reported dead and two others still missing. About 40 thousand others were evacuated.
In Jakarta in the meantime, torrential rains since a week that lead to floods, have forced 5,125 Jakarta residents to evacuate their homes.
"Up until 7 a.m. Monday, floods had inundated 31 sub districts in 18 districts of Jakarta," stated The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, here on Monday.
Based on the agency's flood impact data, the number of houses inundated reached 7,367 houses with 24,269 people, in Jakarta. At least 5,125 evacuees have been accommodated in 35 evacuation shelters across the capital.
The heights of the flood varied in several places; four meters high flood was reported in Cawang sub-district, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.
The four worst flood affected areas in East Jakarta are Cawang, Cililitan, Bidara China and Kampung Melayu.
In Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, at least 1,508 homes have been inundated with floods, forcing 212 out of the 3,427 residents to evacuate.
"Most of the residents do not want to evacuate despite floods that have reached 100-250 cm," Sutopo noted.
While in Cawang, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, 50-400 cm of flood water inundated a total of 1,944 homes with 6,293 inhabitants and displaced at least 3,446 people from their homes.
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