121 Residents' Houses In Bekasi Damaged By Tornado

BEKASI - As many as 121 residential units in Bekasi Regency, West Java were damaged due to the tornado that hit the area on Wednesday (1/3).

"A total of 121 houses were damaged due to the tornado," said South Tambun sub-district head, Junaefi, reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, March 1.

He said the tornado that blew at 13.00 WIB hit three villages in the South Tambun District area with the worst impact in Sumberjaya Village.

In Kampung Buwek Jaya, Sumberjaya Village, as many as 90 houses were damaged, with details of 17 houses being severely damaged after being hit by a tree and 73 houses being moderately damaged.

The tornado also resulted in 21 houses in Tridayasakti Village being damaged with the status of seven houses being severely damaged and 14 houses being moderately to lightly damaged.

"Meanwhile, in Mangunjaya Village, until earlier there were reports that 10 houses were damaged. Three to four houses were seriously damaged, the rest were slightly damaged," he said.

Junaefi admitted that most of the damage occurred because the wind hit the majority of the roofs made of asbestos.

"Most of the roof tiles were damaged, especially those made of asbestos which was heavily damaged," he said.

He admitted that he had reported the tornado disaster to Acting Bekasi Regent Dani Ramdan as well as conducting a comprehensive data collection of the affected residents.

"There were no injuries or fatalities as a result of the disaster. I have reported this to the Regent and also coordinated with the BPBD. At this time we are still collecting data, we will report it later. As for the follow-up handling, we will fully submit it to the relevant agencies," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of RW 02 Kampung Buwek Jaya, Sumberjaya Village Asnawi, said that apart from damaging residents' homes, the tornado also toppled electrical installation cables.

Residents are currently working together to clean up the area, either evacuating fallen trees or sweeping up broken tile fragments.

"For the time being we have turned off the electricity. PLN officers are also repairing it. We have mobilized residents to help clean up, because our area is the worst hit," he said.