Indonesia: Floods in South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and East Kalimantan Provinces

International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies ReliefWeb 14 Jun 19;

This bulletin is issued for information only and reflects the current situation and details available at this time. The Indonesian Red Cross – Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI), with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), are continuing to monitor and respond to the situation with local and national resources. If required, additional financial resources will be sought via the relevant IFRC international disaster response mechanism.

The situation

High intensity rainfall triggered flooding in several areas of Sulawesi and Kalimantan in early June 2019. Three provinces in Sulawesi, namely South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi; and one province in Kalimantan – East Kalimantan, still suffer flooding from significant increase of water discharge, worsened by the high tidal wave.

Flood in Southeast Sulawesi

According to Indonesian Disaster Management Authority (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB)), Konawe, North Konawe, Konawe island and East Kolaka district are the worst affected by the flood with 67 villages covered by the flood. Furthermore, according to the latest report, the flood caused 1,391 houses, eight school facilities, three public health facilities, 970-hectare rice field, 83-hectare corn field, 420-hectare fishpond covered by water and mud; 202 houses washed away and three bridges damaged. There are approximately 9,788 people forced to evacuate themselves and the flood has assumed a 4-day old baby.

Responding to the situation, Head of North Konawe Regent declared the “emergency” status for the area from 2 – 16 June 2019. Afterwards, Head of Konawe regent revised the “emergency” status for the area to be from 5 – 11 June 2019. Since most of the main road to the affected area covered by water, BNPB sent relief supplies by cargo plane and distributing the relief supplies using helicopter. As of today, BNPB has distributed IDR 218 million worth of relief supplies.

Flood in South Sulawesi & Central Sulawesi

According to BNPB report there are two districts affected by the flood that is Sidrap and Wajo districts in South Sulawesi. In Sidrap district, there are 16 villages located in three different sub-districts (Dua Pitue, Pitu Riase and Pitu Riawa sub-district) covered by the floods. On the other hand, 2,107 houses covered in seven sub-districts located in Wajo District. According to the latest report, 2,278 families or approximately 7,729 people are affected by the flood. Several public facilities such as schools, mosque, public health facilities have been affected, while 3,676 hectares of farm field are covered by mud and flood waters.

In Central Sulawesi, 45 houses are affected by flooding and seven houses heavily damaged by the floodwaters. In total, there are 561 families evacuated from Lele and Dampala villages in Morowali Regency. Other than houses, the floods also damaged one bridge, cutting the access to the villages. Therefore, most of the evacuation efforts are done by boats. However, flood levels are slowly receding in both provinces

Flood in East Kalimantan

One of the main and largest rivers in East Kalimantan the Mahakam river overflowed due to heavy and intense rainfall in the area, causing flood in three different areas, Samarinda City, Kutai Kartanegara district and Paser district. As of today, Samarinda city is the only area still affected by the flood waters.

The floods have started to recede in the northern part of Samarinda city. However, flood level is increasing in the southern part of Samarinda city with the average height ranging from 30 – 125 centimeters. There are 11,652 - 35,6841 people affected by the flood. As of today, there are 626 houses covered by flood (number could escalate since assessment is still underway). “Emergency” status has been declared until 12 June 2019 in order to speed up the flood response.

Immediate needs

Based on initial information from BNPB and PMI POSKO, the current immediate needs are clean water, emergency tents for displacement, tarpaulins, blanket, mattresses, medicines, food items, family and baby kits, emergency lamps, cleaning tools and hygiene kits.


Indonesia nickel mining disrupted by heavy rain, floods -association
Reuters Kitco News 14 Jun 19;

JAKARTA/SINGAPORE, June 14 (Reuters) - Widespread flooding in Indonesia's nickel hub on the island of Sulawesi has halted some mining operations in the world's biggest nickel ore producer, an official with a nickel mining industry group said.

Indonesia is a major supplier of nickel ore and nickel pig iron to China, the world's largest producer of stainless steel, an industry that accounts for 70% of global nickel consumption. A protracted disruption in Indonesia could have a significant impact on raw materials for stainless steel production.

Heavy rains have been hitting the North Konawe regency in Southeast Sulawesi since late last month, flooding some mines and resulting in high water content in output from others, Meidy Lengkey, secretary general of Indonesia's Nickel Miners Association, told Reuters.

"A number of mines haven't been able to operate in the past two weeks," Lengkey said. An estimated 15 to 20 miners who each produce 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes of nickel ore per month, were affected by the flooding, she said.

More than 5,700 people were displaced after high intensity rain in North Konawe region caused a widespread flood, the national disaster mitigation agency said.

The flooding, however, has not disrupted operations and logistics at Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, a major nickel smelter hub in Central Sulawesi, according to Alexander Barus, an executive at the park.

"We anticipated a heavy rainy season, but this one is bigger and more widespread than usual," Barus said.

Many of Indonesia's nickel mines are spread around Central, South and Southeast Sulawesi provinces. The Morowali Industrial Park is where China's Tsingshan Group makes stainless steel.

Morowali was also affected by floods, but the worst hit area was just to the south of there, in North Konawe regency.

FUTURES PRICES JUMP

Nickel prices jumped to two-week highs on Friday on fears of further supply disruptions.

Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Friday rose as much as 1.9% to a two-week high of $12,065 a tonne, while Shanghai nickel climbed 3% to its highest since May 28 at 101,360 yuan ($14,640) a tonne. Short positions on Shanghai July nickel have been squeezed by the increase, with the market just needing "an incident to make prices fall," said a China-based nickel analyst.

Nickel futures have been under pressure and are likely to remain so this year on rapidly rising nickel supplies and slowing demand from stainless steel mills, which have been erasing deficits in the nickel stockpile balance. Another major influence this year has been the trade dispute between the United States and China, the world's two largest economies, with its potential to disrupt growth and demand. Benchmark LME nickel has fallen about 25% in the last 12 months.

"We remain bearish about near term nickel prices in view of weak stainless steel demand especially in China," said analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities in a note.


The Southeast Sulawesi disaster mitigation agency said on Friday that water has receded in some areas in North Konawe, although some villages were still difficult to access.



Samarinda flood affects 56,123 residents
Antara 14 Jun 19;

Samarinda, E Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The flood that struck several areas in the East Kalimantan provincial capital of Samarinda over the past few days has affected 56,123 residents in five sub-districts, according to the City Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

"We thank God that the floodwater began to recede yesterday," Secretary of the Samarinda City BPBD Hendra AH said on Friday.

The flood has affected 32,726 residents in Sungai Pinang sub-district, 15,706 residents in North Samarinda sub-district, 6,038 residents in Samarinda Ulu sub-district, 1,612 residents in Samarinda Ilir sub-district and 81 residents in Sungai Kunjang sub-district.

Hendra expressed gratitude to all agencies that set up command posts and distributed foods, foodstuffs and medicines, to ease the burden of flood victims.