Mudslides, quake hit Indonesia

Flooding kills at least 58 people, leaves thousands homeless

A man examines a plane Sunday in Sentani, Indonesia, at the place where the aircraft came to rest after being washed away during a flash flood.
A man examines a plane Sunday in Sentani, Indonesia, at the place where the aircraft came to rest after being washed away during a flash flood.

JAYAPURA, Indonesia -- Flash floods and mudslides triggered by days of torrential downpours tore through mountainside villages in Indonesia's easternmost province, killing at least 58 people and leaving thousands homeless, disaster officials said Sunday.

About 1,500 miles west, a moderately strong earthquake triggered a landslide that hit an Indonesian waterfall, killing at least two more people and injuring dozens.

In the flooded areas of Papua province's Jayapura district, rescuers recovered more bodies on Sunday. Floodwaters and landslides destroyed roads and bridges, hampering rescue efforts, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman.

The dead included three children who drowned after the floods began just after midnight Saturday.

Nugroho said 58 bodies had been pulled from the mud and wreckage of crumpled homes by Sunday. Another 74 people were hospitalized, many with broken bones and head wounds.

Nugroho said the number of dead and injured will likely increase since many affected areas have not been reached.

"We are overwhelmed by too many injuries," said Haerul Lee, the head of the Jayapura health office, adding that some medical facilities had been hit by power failures. "We can't handle it alone."

Papua's provincial administration has declared a two-week emergency in order to get assistance from the central government.

Papua military spokesman Col. Muhammad Aidi said rescuers managed to save two injured infants who had been trapped for more than six hours. The parents of one of the babies were washed away and died.

Worst hit was Sentani subdistrict, where a landslide early Sunday was followed minutes later by a river that burst its banks, sweeping away residents in a fast-moving deluge of water, heavy logs and debris, said the local disaster mitigation agency head, Martono.

Martono, who goes by a single name, said rescuers have been evacuating more than 4,000 to temporary shelters as hundreds of houses were damaged.

He said that rising floodwaters forced Sentani airport to temporarily close Sunday after a runway was flooded, and that water damaged the power system and two small planes parked at the airport.

Television footage showed hundreds of rescuers and members of the police and military evacuating residents to shelters at a government office. Others were carrying bodies in black and orange body bags. Ambulances and vehicles were seen carrying victims on muddy roads to several clinics and hospitals.

Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and floods and kill dozens each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.

Indonesia also sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

One of Indonesia's islands, Lombok, took the brunt of Sunday's deadly earthquake. The island, roughly in the middle of the Indonesian island chain, is popular with tourists.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.5 and struck at a depth of 15 miles.

The earthquake was felt across the island, panicking residents still recovering from a major quake last August that killed more than 300 people and left thousands homeless.

Sunday's quake triggered a landslide from Mount Rinjani and hit dozens of tourists at the Tiu Kelep waterfall located in the foothills of the active volcano, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman.

Two Malaysians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in the landslide, Nugroho said.

He said rescuers managed to evacuate 22 Malaysians and 14 Indonesians from the waterfall site, as well as 50 other people -- mostly local surveyors from government institutions, the military and the police.

Forty-four people were injured in the quake, including eight Malaysians, Nugroho said. About 500 homes were damaged, including 32 that were flattened.

Information for this article was contributed by Niniek Karmini and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 03/18/2019

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