Banjir Ambarita & Antara | October 07, 2010
Once-vibrant Wasior has been devastated by floods after days of torrential downpours. Mud and debris are slowing efforts to rescue survivors and recover the dead. (Reuters Photo)Jakarta. The death toll from flash floods in the West Papuan town of Wasior reached 97 on Thursday, as authorities warned of more deaths in villages that rescue workers had not yet been able to reach.
Rescue efforts are still underway, but are being hampered by fallen trees, collapsed buildings and thick mud everywhere, officials have said.
“The final count was almost 100 people killed, and this could increase as there are some villages that have been isolated because landslides have washed away bridges or made the roads inaccessible,” ML Rumadap, the provincial secretary, said on Thursday.
“Even with limited equipment, the teams are continuing to rescue trapped victims and clean up the damage,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than 3,000 people have been evacuated by ship to Manokwari in Papua province. The latest group, which left on Thursday, included 544 survivors and five dead.
Of the deaths, four came from one family and included a pregnant woman. The bodies were found at their home in the Pemda I residential complex in Wasior, according to surviving family members. Details on the fifth casualty have not emerged.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has established a temporary shelter at a Manokwari military base to accommodate the thousands of evacuees from Wasior who have already filled up its provincial evacuation center.
Derek Ampnir, the head of the BNPB’s West Papua office, said that the latest official toll of 97 killed came after five bodies were recovered on Thursday in the neighborhood of Sanduay in downtown Wasior.
He added that recovery teams were now digging through the mud and debris with mechanical excavators to recover more bodies.
Rescue workers on the ground said they were running critically short of essential supplies such as food, clean water, medicine and tents, as well as body bags.
Maria, the head of an evacuation post in Wasior, said survivors were subsisting on rice and canned sardines. She added that recovery teams also needed more vehicles to cart away the mounting number of bodies being unearthed.
Meanwhile, Velix Wanggai, a presidential adviser and a native of Papua, is in Manokwari to observe the evacuation efforts and oversee the supply of relief aid to the stricken town.
On Thursday he flew to Wasior with Papua Governor Abraham Octavianus Ataruri and Syamsul Muarif, the national head of the BNPB.
“Our main priority is to evacuate all residents to safety,” Syamsul said.
“The local administration has been ordered to make a list of all needed supplies and request them from the provincial administration and central government.”
An estimated three-quarters of Wasior’s residents have already left, with most of those remaining seeking shelter at the regional administration offices in the Racei area of town. Other neighborhoods, such as Rado, remain completely inaccessible to rescue workers.
Residents have expressed fear of more landslides and flooding, as torrential rains continue to lash the area for a fourth-straight day.
“Wasior’s like a ghost town now because most people have gone to either Manokwari or Nabire [also in Papua],” Yohanes, a resident who chose to remain, said on Thursday.
“When night falls here, it gets desolate and you can smell rotting corpses everywhere.”
He added that the Sanduay neighborhood, home to the town’s main market, was now almost completely deserted.
Once-vibrant Wasior has been devastated by floods after days of torrential downpours. Mud and debris are slowing efforts to rescue survivors and recover the dead. Reuters Photo