Flash flood in Mimika

Timika (ANTARA) – Flash flood that struck the Trans Nabire Road area, Iwaka District, Mimika Regency. I happened from Saturday (7/25) to Sunday (7/26) displaced a number of houses of Mimika Gunung Village residents.

Yohanes Magai, a resident of Kampung Mimika Gunung, said that due to the flash floods many residents’ homes and their livestock were swept away by the swift flow of water.

“Now we really need the help of food and clothing that is suitable for use because many people’s homes have been damaged, some have been flooded, and livestock cannot be saved,” Yohanes said.

Mimika Disaster Response Baznas Commander, Agung Arie said that his staff on Monday evening managed to walk along the riverbank to reach the location of Mimika Gunung residents who had sought refuge in higher ground.

“Access to it is very difficult. We were forced to make an emergency road along the riverbank and we just arrived at the pick-up point,” said Agung.

To be able to reach the refugee camps of the Mimika Gunung residents, the Mimika Baznas team had to walk along the riverbank on foot for about 6 kilometers across a muddy and fast flowing river.

The condition occurred because the Trans Nabire road before entering the palm oil plantation company area, PT PAL was lost due to being swept away by flash floods.

The road with tailings concrete construction has now changed its function to become a new river channel.

On Monday afternoon, Deputy Regent of Mimika Johannes Rettob accompanied by Iwaka District Head Wens Mitoro observed residents affected by flash floods in the Trans Nabire Road area, precisely at Kilometer 12.

John, as he is familiarly called, emphasized that the lack of a disaster management budget in the Mimika Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) is no reason not to help residents who are troubled by the natural disaster.

“I do not know whether the Head of BPBD has gone to the field or not. There is no reason the funds are not available, if the damage to the road is the responsibility of the Public Work Unit, but the community is the responsibility of the Mimika Regional Government,” said John.

The former Head of the Mimika Dishubkominfo assessed that the flash flood disaster that hit the Trans Nabire Road area was actually predictable ahead of time because logging activities in the upper reaches of the river still continue to this day.

As a result of logging, the forests become bare so that the volume of water increases during the rainy season to inundate settlements around PT PAL to Iwaka, Myoko and other Mimika coastal villages such as Aikawapuka.

“I do not know the conditions in Myoko, Iwaka and Aikawapuka. In Iwaka, the information has risen to the chest of an adult, as well as in Aikawapuka Village. Based on the district head’s report, the condition of river water in Aikawapuka has now receded,” said John.

As a result of the flash floods in the Trans Nabire Road area, hundreds of family heads who resided in PT PAL 2, PT PAL 1 until now are isolated and lack food.

John asks residents not to cut down forests to take their wood and then sell it to timber entrepreneurs in the City of Timika. *

Related News: Flooding in the coastal region of Mimika