[Kabar-indonesia] Sulawesi flood, landslide death toll seen rising to 150 [+Mines unaffected]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: More than 110 dead in Indonesia floods, 101 missing;
and No mine operation affected by Indonesia landslide

Death toll from Indonesian floods, landslides seen rising to 150

By NINIEK KARMINI
Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 21 (AP) - The death toll from widespread
flooding and landslides in central Indonesia could exceed 150, the
country's vice president said Wednesday, citing reports that dozens 
of people were still missing.

Rescuers retrieved scores of bodies from villages ravaged by floods
and landslides on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, bringing the death toll
after days of heavy rainfall to 120, officials said.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the number of casualties would likely
increase because 40 people are still unaccounted for.

He announced an investigation into claims that the flooding may have
been caused by illegal logging after large swaths of land have been
battered by incessant rains since Monday, swelling rivers and
inundating hundreds of houses and rice fields.

"We are overwhelmed with the bodies here," said Bachtiar, head of a
public health center in the worst hit-district of Sinjai, a coastal
region in southern Sulawesi. "We need help, especially body bags."

Efendi Rajaloa, coordinator of search and rescue in Sinjai, said 104
bodies have been recovered. Eight other people were killed and 12 were
missing in four neighboring districts, officials said earlier.

The government announced it was sending tons of emergency supplies to
the island, including body bags.

Hundreds of people flocked to hospitals to look for missing relatives,
witnesses said.

A survivor called Rohim recounted being swept out to sea after a flood
tore through his house early on Tuesday morning. He survived for nine
hours by hanging onto a piece of drift wood, but his wife and two sons
were still missing.

"I pray for them, and hope rescuers can find them," he said at Sinjai
hospital, where he had been looking for their bodies in the morgue. "I
will stay here until I can find them: dead or alive."

TV footage showed people in one devastated village pulling on a rope
attached to large piece of wood trying to reach corpses or survivors.

The region is about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) northeast of
Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each
year in Indonesia, where millions of people live in mountainous
regions and near fertile flood plains close to rivers. Some
environmentalists blame rampant deforestation, which they contend
loosens soils on mountainsides.

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More than 110 dead in Indonesia floods, 101 missing

SINJAI, Indonesia, June 21 (AFP) - Floods and landslides triggered by 
torrential rain have killed at least 111 people in Indonesia's South Sulawesi 
province and left a further 101 missing.

The disaster, which has hit at least seven districts in the province after 
two days of torrential rain, is the latest in a series of similar tragedies to 
hit the world's biggest archipelago this year.

Saktianto, an officer at the South Sulawesi search and rescue agency, said 
Wednesday the latest report from Sinjai, the worst-hit district, showed 103 
people had been killed and 99 were still missing.

Saktianto said floods killed 64 people while landslides claimed another 39 
lives 
there.

Another two people were killed in Bantaeng district and another in Bone 
district, while two others were missing. Six of those missing earlier were found, 
local 
officials said.

The district police chief in Bulukumba district said five people had died 
there.

Sinjai district spokesman Budiman said some of the victims would be buried in 
a mass grave because families could not take care of their dead.

"A number of families have asked the district government to take care of the 
corpses," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

At the hospital in Sinjai some 15 bodies were laid out, including children as 
young as five, as relatives cried and clutched at bodies. Some became 
hysterical.

Budiman said the death toll would likely increase, saying some flood-hit 
areas could not be reached as roads were blocked by landslides.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed condolences for the deaths.

"The most important thing is to treat the injured," he said according to 
Antara.

Residents sifted through what remained of their belongings after the floods 
swept through their homes.

Police, the military and others were searching for survivors, Muhidin, a 
search and rescue official in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, told AFP. 
The government on Wednesday dispatched aid for the victims. Social Affairs 
Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah said sarongs, blankets, biscuits, medicine, body bags 
and medical staff were to be flown in.

The minister told reporters he had also ordered local social welfare offices 
to distribute 100 tonnes of rice to the affected districts.

Antara reported that the meteorological office in Makassar was warning of 
more heavy rains over the next three days.

The weather cleared by Wednesday morning, however, and many residents were 
returning to their homes, the agency said.

Flash floods and landslides in Indonesia are not unusual, although monsoon 
rains typically peak in January.

In April floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains killed at least 23 
people in East Java.

At least 12 people were killed in similar disasters in January on other 
islands while more than 150 people lost their lives in two separate landslides on 
Java.
     
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No mine operation affected by Indonesia landslide

JAKARTA, June 21 (Reuters) - Mining operations in Indonesia's
resource-rich Sulawesi island have not been hit by landslides that
have killed 114 people as all mines are far from the affected area, a
mines ministry official said on Wednesday.

"The landslide is in the south where there is no mining operation.
Mining operations in other areas have no problem," M.S. Marpaung,
director of mineral resources in the mines and energy ministry, told
Reuters.

Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia is rich in mineral resources such as
nickel and two leading mining companies, Canadian nickel producer Inco
Ltd. and nickel and gold miner PT Aneka Tambang , have operations on
the island.

An official at Inco's Indonesian unit said their mining operation was
not affected by the landslide because the distance between the mining
area and the landslide was about 600 km (375 miles).

"The location is far away from our mining side, there is no problem,"
Rajeshanagara Sutedja, Inco Indonesia spokesman, said.

Inco operates a nickel mine in Soroako in South Sulawesi.

State-run PT Aneka Tambang's mine in Sulawesi is also located far from
the landslide area.

"The landslide is in South Sulawesi province and our mine in Pomalaa
is located in Southeast Sulawesi province. It's not hampering our
operation," said Ashur Wasif, Antam's corporate secretary.

Search-and-rescue operations are under way after two days of heavy
rain in several parts of South Sulawesi province. Sinjai regency was
the worst-hit area after flooding early on Tuesday, rescuers and
police said.

Torrential rains and landslides are regular features of tropical
Indonesia. Rampant deforestation often adds to the ease with which
hillsides are saturated and collapse, environmentalists say.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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