Jakarta floods killed 80
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday February 10, 5:29 PM
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Jakarta floods killed 80*
Floods which have inundated the Indonesian capital for more than a week
have claimed 80 lives, officials said in the first definitive toll.
Most of the victims were washed away by flash floods, while others were
electrocuted by live wires or killed by other accidents or diseases,
said Tabrani from Jakarta's crisis centre Saturday.
"The breakdown of dead victims is 48 in Jakarta, 19 in West Java and 13
in Banten province," he told a press briefing, referring to the capital
and surrounding areas.
Police had earlier given the toll at around 50.
Around 500,000 people remain in temporary shelters in the capital and
its satellite cities, where some areas are still knee-deep in water.
Torrential rains have stopped in Jakarta save for some scattered showers
but the meteorology office is warning of more rains until the end of
February.
Health officials meanwhile have urged the public to be vigilant about
water-borne diseases as the flood waters recede.
One man has suffered brain damage and cannot speak after being diagnosed
with leptospirosis or Weil's disease, a bacterial illness usually caught
from water contaminated by rat urine.
Hygiene and clean water supplies remain a problem as people return to
tidy up their sodden homes.
The Indonesian Red Cross will start distributing disinfectants and
spraying neighbourhoods on Monday, while aid groups have been helping
supply drinking water to some of the worst-hit areas.
Water supplies were disrupted when electricity supplies were cut for
safety reasons, although the situation is slowly returning to normal.
Old Batavia, the former colonial port under Dutch rule, from where
Jakarta has expanded, was built on marshland and some areas of the
capital are below sea level.