Padang Flash Flood Destroys Bridges, Inundates 5 Subdistricts

The Jakarta Globe, July 25, 2012


Padang. The flash flood that hit the capital of West Sumatra late on Tuesday afternoon has inundated homes in five subdistricts, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate and seek refuge on higher ground.

The flood struck Padang at about 6:30 p.m., during the time people were breaking their fast, following more than three hours of heavy downpour. The waters reached as high as four meters but was down to around one meter on Wednesday morning.

“No one realized that the rivers in Padang burst their banks,” Edi Asri, an official from the Padang disaster mitigation agency, said on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Water rushed out of the swollen Lubuk Kilangan, Kurao Pagang and Batang Kuranji rivers, destroying the houses and other buildings in its path. The worst hit areas were Limau Manis, Batu Busuk, Kampung Koto, Cengkeh, Padang Besi, Kalumbuk and Tunggul Hitam.

“The residents of these flood-hit areas have been evacuated to mosques located on higher ground,” Edi said.

No casualties have been reported, but eight people were reported missing on Tuesday night.

The Joint Search and Rescue Team has been working since Tuesday night to evacuate residents still trapped in the flooded areas.

“SAR teams have been using rescue boats to save people whose houses were inundated by floodwaters,” Edi said.

The team had difficulty accessing some of the areas, including Limau Manis in Pauh subdistrict where floodwaters were still chest-deep. The flood also destroyed several bridges and cut off electricity, isolating several homes.

A local resident said Tuesday’s disaster was worse than the last flooding they suffered in 2008.

“When the flash flood hit in 2008, nothing happened to the bridge, but today’s flooding is worse,” he told Antara news agency on Tuesday.

Akmal, the spokesman of the Padang Search and Rescue Agency, said that while the team has reached trapped residents, evacuation was difficult.

“There are about 50 people that we’re now trying to evacuate to safer areas,” Akmal said.

The Padang Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has declared an emergency status and warned other residents who live near the rivers.

“People who live along those rivers should be alert as the floodwaters are still high,” BPBD head Dedi Hadinal said.

The jakarta Globe, July 25, 2012


Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar blamed illegal logging for Tuesday's widespread flooding that inundated five sub-districts of the West Sumatra capital.

Eight people remained missing on Wednesday as search and rescue crews converged on the flood-hit region. Heavy rains caused the Lubuk Linggau and Batang Kuranji rivers to overflow on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes for safety.

Fauzi pointed to the large logs send downstream in the flood as evidence of the impact of illegal logging.

“The city administration has not issued any logging licenses for the protected forest around the city,” he said.

But more than 20 percent of the 12,000 hectares of protected forest within city limits have been felled by illegal loggers, Fauzi said.

The mayor asked local villagers to report instances of illegal logging to the police.

Batu Busuk village remained isolated by flood waters Wednesday morning after a bridge leading to the village collapsed in the floods.

Padang’s city administration have sent emergency aid to help villagers until the bridge is rebuilt.

The Jakarta Globe, July 25, 2012



The country’s child protection agency has received an average of 100 complaints each month related to violations of children’s rights through its hotline service in the first six months of this year.

Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), said the agency had received a total of 686 reports between January and June. The agency said the reported children’s rights violations increased not only in number, but also in seriousness from previous tallies.

He said 139 of the complaints involved violence among high school students, in the form of brawls. In the same period last year, only 128 cases were reported.

Twelve students were killed in brawls this year and many more were injured, according to agency records. “This shows that brawls are on the rise among teenagers,” Arist said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Komnas PA also received reports of 42 cases of child abandonment: 23 boys and 19 girls were left stranded, usually by their parents or close family members, in various locations across Indonesia.

“Thirty-three abandonment cases were related to illegal relationships, and eight cases were economic-related, while the locations included rivers [14 cases], waste dump sites [nine cases], houses [five cases], hospitals or homes [four cases], public transport or public places [one case each], and cemeteries [one case],” Arist said. Of the abandoned children, 25 were found dead and 16 survived, with the fate of the final child unknown.

There were also high suicide rates among youngsters aged 13 to 17 from middle- and low-income families. Nine children hanged themselves, eight used sharp weapons, two jumped from high places, and one drank poison.

Eight of these cases are believed to have been caused by heartbreak, seven had financial causes, four were due to family disharmony and one was related to problems at school.

Arist said the increase in child violence showed that people who should have provided security for children became the main perpetrators. “Families or parents, as one of the pillars for child protection, have failed, and have even become the parties that are feared by the children,” he said.

He said it was sadly ironic that violence against children occurred in those environments where children should feel most protected, such as in homes, at school and among friends.

He encouraged the public to act against what he called “this culture of violence.”

“The government, schools, and mass organizations need to launch a campaign against violence,” Arist declared.

The Jakarta Globe, July 25, 2012


Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar blamed illegal logging for Tuesday's widespread flooding that inundated five sub-districts of the West Sumatra capital.

Eight people remained missing on Wednesday as search and rescue crews converged on the flood-hit region. Heavy rains caused the Lubuk Linggau and Batang Kuranji rivers to overflow on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes for safety.

Fauzi pointed to the large logs send downstream in the flood as evidence of the impact of illegal logging.

“The city administration has not issued any logging licenses for the protected forest around the city,” he said.

But more than 20 percent of the 12,000 hectares of protected forest within city limits have been felled by illegal loggers, Fauzi said.

The mayor asked local villagers to report instances of illegal logging to the police.

Batu Busuk village remained isolated by flood waters Wednesday morning after a bridge leading to the village collapsed in the floods.

Padang’s city administration have sent emergency aid to help villagers until the bridge is rebuilt.




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