Jakarta
Indonesian rescuers mounted a desperate search Friday for those missing after flash floods and landslides sparked by torrential rains killed at least 43 people across the Jakarta region, leaving whole districts under water and thousands homeless.
Around a dozen people were still unaccounted for after record rains that started on New Year’s Eve pounded the capital and left swathes of the megalopolis, home to some 30 million, a wasteland of overturned cars and damaged buildings. Some 400,000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters with many unable to return to their waterlogged homes, according to authorities. ‘We’re encouraging people whose houses are still inundated to go to a safer place,’ said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo.
The agency said 43 people had been confirmed dead in Greater Jakarta and neighbouring Lebak regency in the south of Java island. Waters had receded in many areas and power, which had been shut off across many districts, was being restored.
In hard-hit Bekasi, on the outskirts of city, swampy streets were littered with debris, crushed cars lying on top of each other with waterline marks reaching as high as buildings’ second floors.—APP
