JAKARTA, May 14 (NNN-ANTARA) – Up to 52 people were found dead and 17 went missing, after cold lava floods destroyed houses, buildings and public facilities, in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, a senior official of local disaster agency said, today.
Search for the missing persons resumed today, as several heavy machinery equipment had been added to the scene, to help with the operation, said Ilham Wahab, head of the rehabilitation and reconstruction unit of the provincial disaster management and mitigation agency.
“The number of bodies found is now 52, and the missing number is 17. These figures will keep changing as people keep reporting about their missing family members,” he said via the phone.
Wahab noted that, the ongoing emergency relief efforts would be followed by a reconstruction and rehabilitation programme.
Experts would be involved to consider whether it would be necessary to relocate the residents living in dangerous areas, such as, on the sides of rivers, whose upstream is at the slopes of the Marapi volcano and Singgalang volcano, which keep erupting and exiting volcanic materials, he added.
According to Lieutenant General Suharyanto, head of National Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency, the natural disaster has forced over 3,000 people to flee their home and take shelters at safer grounds.
“Repair of the damaged roads is among the priorities during the relief efforts,” he said in a text message, adding that, the fulfillment of basic needs of the affected residents would be met.
Heavy rains on Saturday night triggered the waters of the rivers to overflow their banks, striking the regencies of Agam, Tanah Datar and Pariaman, and Padang Panjang town.– NNN-ANTARA
