Floods grow worse, search intensified

Slamet Susanto and Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta

Flooding in Surakarta in Central Java and its surrounding areas worsened due to heavy rain Friday as rescuers intensified efforts to search for people still believed to be buried by Wednesday's landslide in Tawangmangu in the adjacent city of Karanganyar.

As flooding continued to widen it submerged thousands of houses, raising the number of evacuees from about 26,000 in Surakarta alone to about 31,818 on Friday afternoon.

Thousands of people are living in makeshift tents and a number of public buildings, including Solo City Hall and Manahan Sports Stadium, mosques and other buildings unaffected by the flooding, which is up to three meters deep in some areas.

Purnomo Subagyo, a spokesman for the Solo city administration, said flooding had submerged six subdistricts in Jebres district, four subdistricts in Pasar Kliwon district and one subdistrict in Serengan district.

"The flooding was caused by the overflowing of the huge Gajah Mungkur dam in Wonogiri," he said.

From the landslide location in Tawangmangu, Haru Pratama Kristianto, head of the Karanganyar natural disaster mitigation section reported Friday they had recovered 66 bodies from the thick mud, fewer than the 71 expected earlier.

On Thursday it was reported that as many as 88 people were believed to have been killed in landslides in seven districts in Karanganyar. The figure included 17 bodies recovered in the nearby city of Wonogiri.

Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto told a press conference in Surakarta on Friday that in order to anticipate overflow from several rivers in Central and East Java, the government would build dozens of small-scale dams next year.

"The construction of the small-scale dams is expected to help reduce the rate of water flow along big rivers," Joko said.

The dams, he said, would be built near small rivers heading into major waterways. "The master plan for the dam construction has already been prepared," the minister said.

He added that the construction of the project would start next year, although he would not say how much it would cost or when it would be completed.

"This deals with a large amount of funds which cannot be set now and disbursed tomorrow," he said.

Two of the dams will be built near Pacitan and Ponorogo in East Java, said Ivan Nursyiwan, the director general of water resources.

From Cepu district in Blora regency, Central Java, it was reported that thousands of other people were also forced to evacuate due to the overflowing Bengawan Solo river, which had swamped their homes with up to two meters of water.

"This flooding is the biggest ever to hit the area since 1993. Our area floods every year, but now is really the biggest one so we are forced to flee," said Yugiono, 51, a resident of Balun hamlet in Cepu.

Budi Santoso, 29, another resident, said he was rushed to save his family has the waters rose. "The most important thing is to save ourselves first," he said.

Suherdjoko contributed to this article from Cepu, Central Java.