Wild Weather Damages Bogor Homes And School

Jakarta Globe

Strong wind and rain have wrecked havoc in Bogor, damaging about 700 houses, an official said on Tuesday.

Ciomas subdistrict military commander Capt. Asep Komarudin was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that at least 670 houses were damaged in six villages across two subdistricts of Bogor.

He said that hardest hit were the villages of Sukamakmur and Sukaraja in Ciomas, with a total of 427 houses damaged.

“Thank God there were no casualties in this disaster. But dozens of pupils of the Ciomas No. 8 state primary school have been forced to learn at the Sukamakmur village hall because their school was heavily damaged and is not longer fit for use,” Asep said.

Sukamakmur village chief Sri Widyarti said that of the 427 houses damaged, “at least 67 units were so severely damaged that dozens of families have been forced to seek shelter with neighbors and relatives.”

Another 243 houses were damaged in the villages of Sukamantri, Sukaluyu, Sukajaya and Sukaresmi in the neighboring subdistrict of Tamansari, but mostly lightly, Asep said.

He added that 21 soldiers were sent to Sukamakmur to help cleaning efforts there. “We continue to coordinate with the leaders of the local subdistrict to help residents,” he said.

Bogor district spokesman Erwin Suriana said that teams from the regional disaster mitigation agency and the Red Cross as well as volunteers on Monday evening began helping with emergency relief efforts.

Erwin said the rain and wind was strong across the district, adding that in Bogor, dozens of trees were uprooted by the strong winds.

Landslides also occurred in the Pasirjaya and Paledang wards of Bogor, he said.

“There were no reports of lives lost, only material losses, because of houses being swept by the landslide,” said Djaya, the head of the Bogor fire brigade and disaster relief agency said.