JAKARTA HIT BY FLOODS
Authorities forced to release water from reservoir
THOUSANDS of residents in the capital here have been evacuated due to flooding, the governor said yesterday, though the level of rivers swollen by the release of water from a reservoir upstream was dropping.
Torrential rain had also caused landslides in satellite cities, with eight people missing after two landslides around the city of Bogor, police said.
TV footage yesterday showed people wading through murky brown water in some neighbourhoods here.
Governor Anies Baswedan said about 6,500 people had been displaced by floods.
A day earlier, dramatic TV footage showed fast-running rivers of muddy water gushing down roads, bringing down trees and even some villas in the hilly areas around the capital.
Authorities were forced to release water from a reservoir upstream in Bogor as water levels prompted the highest alert.
Meanwhile, a measles and malnutrition crisis that killed dozens of children in Papua province over the past few months is under control, the Health Ministry said yesterday.
At least 72 people, mostly children, have died of complications due to malnutrition and measles in Asmat, a remote area of the country’s easternmost province.
“We have withdrawn the ‘extraordinary outbreak’ status because the trend of affected people is declining,” Asmat chief Elisa Kambu said.
Around 650 children have contracted measles, and at least 223 are suffering from malnutrition. More than 17,300 children have been immunised, the statement added.