Emergency Disaster Situation Declared In East Manggarai District

JAKARTA, March 24 (Bernama) -- The East Manggarai District administration in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) has declared an emergency disaster situation from March 21 to April 3 after a cyclone struck 51 villages in its subdistrict, destroying property in the incident. The disaster from March 14 to 17 killed two people and damaged 2,361 homes, of which 1,154 were badly damaged, said the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) today. The cyclone also affected 66 schools and two local government offices and uprooted 1,072 clove trees in an agriculture area. The agency has provided Rp400 million in aid to the NTT District Disaster Management Agency to handle the situation, whereby cleaning efforts to move fallen trees were also done. On Saturday, the local government repaired damaged school buildings and contributed 100 tonnes of rice to the cyclone victims. However, the district administration still requires building materials to repair residents' homes. -- BERNAMA