Floods Still Soak 1,886 Residents' Houses In Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

KAPUAS HULU - Floods are still submerging 1,886 houses in seven sub-districts of the Kapuas Hulu region of West Kalimantan with an average water level of one to three meters from the ground.

"Flooding in seven sub-districts was caused by the overflowing of the Kapuas River. Currently, the flood is still inundating the residential area of 8,714 people," said Head of the Kapuas Hulu Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Gunawan, in Putussibau, Kapuas Hulu, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, November 9.

The flood, which occurred almost a week ago, also inundated 42 public facilities in 41 villages spread across seven sub-districts.

According to him, seven sub-districts were affected by the flood, namely Silat Hilir, Semitau, Selimbau, Jongkong, Batang Lupar, Suhaid and Badau sub-districts.

Of the seven sub-districts, Silat Hilir, Suhaid, Selimbau, Jongkong and Batang Lupar were heavily affected.

"Residents affected by the flood on average still survive in their respective homes even though they are flooded, but residents build platforms in their houses," said Gunawan.

He said the Kapuas Hulu Regency Government had distributed aid for flood victims in several flood-affected sub-districts.

Regarding the refugee camps, Gunawan explained that the Kapuas Hulu BPBD had coordinated with the sub-districts and villages to prepare a refugee camp if there were flood victims who wanted to evacuate.

Gunawan said the Kapuas Hulu emergency response period had ended, so for now Kapuas Hulu was in an emergency alert position.

"We will reconsider extending the emergency response period by taking into account the existing conditions later," said Gunawan.

Even so, Gunawan appealed to the entire Kapuas Hulu community to increase their awareness of flooding, considering that the intensity of rainfall is still high upstream of the Kapuas River, while the downstream area is still flooded.