World Vision to distribute relief aid to
more than 7,300 of the city's poorest families this week. February 5, 2007 Jakarta remains under water after torrential rains inundated Indonesia's
capital city of 10 million over the
weekend. In some places, floodwaters are
more than 12 feet deep.
Estimates now are that some 500,000 residents
have had to flee for safe shelter; meanwhile, the number of displaced is expected to rise as rains are forecast to continue through the week. So far,
police say, 29 people have died as result of the disaster — from
drowning, hypothermia, or electrocution. Donate
now to help Indonesia's flood
victims.World Vision has been distributing emergency supplies to thousands of affected
people since Friday evening, and expects to reach more than 7,300 families by the end of this week."While the flooding has devastated all areas of the city, families in World
Vision project communities — the poorest of the poor — are among
the worst affected,"
said Trihadi Saptoadi, World Vision's Indonesia national
director. "We will continue to focus our relief activities in these vulnerable
communities," he says.Most severely affected are the Cawang,
Cipinang Melayu, Kebon Pala, and
Cilincing project communities (also known as Area Development Programs, or
ADPs). Susukan ADP has suffered minor impact.
Aid to 7,300 Families Within
Week
World Vision teams plan to distribute food, non-food item, and medicines to
more than 7,300 affected families, or some 25,000 people within the week,
Nadapdap added."We will
distribute the aid to flood victims in Cawang, Kebon Pala, Cipinang
Melayu, Cilincing, and Susukan. The food project staff will also distribute aid
to their beneficiaries in severely flooded areas,
such as in Cipinang Besar."Today [Monday], besides completing the distribution of the remaining 170
family kits in Kebon Pala, we are distributing food packages to 2,050 families
in [the] Cawang
area," he continued, adding that the food project team will
also complete its baby kit distribution to 1,300 families early this week.Water levels remain high in some places in the city, as heavy
downpours have
continued to fall throughout Greater Jakarta during the past few days,
particularly south of the city. Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Office
reported the downpours would
likely continue through February 7, and forecasted
higher than average rains for the next two weeks.
Get
Involved >> Donate now to help disaster victims. Your donations are
urgently needed to help families around the world caught in disasters, like those who have been displaced by deadly floods in Indonesia. >>
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
