Hundreds of houses in n Maluku submerged

Antara News, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 01:22 WIB

Ternate, N Maluku (ANTARA News) - Several hundred houses in North Maluku have been inundated over the past week after torrential rains showered some sub-districts in the province.

Among the flooded sub-districts were South Jailolo, West Halmahera district, and Oba in Tidore Kepulauan district.

According to North Maluku province`s natural disaster management agency here Tuesday, several hundred houses in three villages of South Jailolo sub-district were submerged.

The flood was caused by the overflowing of South Jailolo rivers following the heavy rainfall over the past week. As a result, tens of local residents` houses were reportedly damaged.

In helping the flood victims in South Jailolo sub-district, Head of West Halmahera district`s social welfare office, Kurnia Duwila, said his men had distributed food and kitchen utensils among the flood victims.

The flood also inundated tens of local residents` houses and farms in Oba sub-district, Tidore Kepulauan district.

The one-meter-high flood also damaged residents` fish ponds.

The torrential rains showering various parts of Tidore Kepulauan district over the past week had also triggered landslides but there were no fatalities in the natural disaster.

The North Maluku meteorology and geophysics office had warned local residents of the high intensity of rains in the province between April and May.

A local environmentalist, Djafar, said the floods that inundated several hundred houses in North Maluku should be warning to the government about the degraded environmental condition and deforestation.

Therefore, the local government needed immediately to plant trees and take firm action against illegal loggers in North Maluku, he said.