63,958 Jakartans Evacuated Due To Flood

Jakarta, Jan 20 (Antara) - About 63,958 people living in Jakarta area will be evacuated due to floods that have been inundating the capital city for the past days, spokesman to Jakarta`s Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Bambang Surya Putra said here on Monday. "Up till 06.00 in the morning, there are a total of 63,958 people being evacuated to 293 locations in Jakarta," Bambang said. According to him, the worst flood happened in East Jakarta where the height of water was ranging between 20 centimeters to 2 meters. The flood killed three people while about 20,228 people living in the area evacuated. Earlier the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) stated on Sunday (Jan 19) that seven people have died due to the floods in Jakarta. BNPB`s Head of Data and Information Center Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement made available to Antara on Sunday that the seven dead victims were Hasan (76), Hidayat(35), Zulfikar (22), Asep (27), Fatimah (5) and Supoyo (44) and one victim who is not yet identified. The causes of their death vary from illnesses, falls or drowning to electrocution. Meanwhile, 10,530 residents from 48 villages and 27 sub-districts in Jakarta were displaced and were evacuated to 97 emergency makeshifts. BNPB alone has built 23 main emergency tents to help the victims and support the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) of Jakarta. "We have distributed 50 inflatable boats for BPBD Jakarta to evacuate residents from inundated areas," Sutopo said. According to the agency, until Monday, January 21, heavy rain will still continue showering Jakarta and its neighboring cities, including Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, particularly in the night. "The rainfall intensity is predicted to get slow next Tuesday and Wednesday (January 22-23)," Sutopo said. Incessant rains this week has caused floods in seven districts of West Java and in Manado, North Sulawesi.