Indonesia hit by more floods in 2017

Antara 26 Oct 17;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - At least 640 floods have hit Indonesia so far in 2017 or the most frequent ever with largest loss of lives and missing people .

Head of the Center for Information Data and Public Relations of the National Agency for Disaster Control Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 109 people were killed in floods and 86 injured.

Sutopo told reporters here on Thursday, flood water inundated 266,458 houses including 1,146 units badly damaged forcing 1.9 million people to live in refugee camps in various areas in the country.

Floods also damaged 483 educational facilities, 317 houses of worship and 70 health care facilities. The hardest hit were the regencies of Bandung and South Bandung.

The most frequent hit by floods is East Java reaching 97 times in 2017 , followed by Central Java 96 times and West Java 58 times, he said.

In West Java the regencies of Bandung and South Bandung are the hardest hit and most frequently hit by floods. Floods could hit the regencies 5 to 10 times a year," he said.

The regency of Bandung suffers flooding when the Citarum river overflowed its banks in rainy days, he added.

He said the flood problem in the regency of Bandung is complex caused by a number of factors such as sedimentation as the river banks have been crowded with houses. In addition, the forest upstream had been almost denuded.

"Floods and landslides were caused by accumulation of environmental damage for years," he said.

Other regions prone to flooding include Aceh, the city of Medan, Riau in areas around the rivers of Siak; Kampar and Rokan, Jambi in area around the river of Batanghari, Banten in area around the rivers of Ciujung and Cisadane, in Jakarta around the river of Ciliwung; Pesanggrahan; and Angke.

Apart from floods , there were 533 cases of whirlwinds, 488 landslides 95 cases of forest fires.(*)