An elementary school student in Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara, died after the roof of the school building collapsed during a cyclone while strong winds, followed by torrential rains in the province, destroyed at least three other schools.
The nine-year-old victim, Puetra Gantama, a third grader at SD Bangka Keli State Elementary School in Satar Mese district, was taken to hospital for treatment, but died later, succumbing to serious head injuries.
Satar Mese district head Marselinus Bandur said the incident took place on Saturday morning, before class.
Manggarai Regent Christian Rotok meanwhile urged residents to be alert. "The weather is very bad and could trigger landslides, floods and cyclones," he said.
In Labuan Bajo, capital of West Manggarai, shipping and air traffic were completely shut down by menacing, five meter high waves. The huge waves also destroyed two motor boats and buildings at the Pede beach resort.
In Sikka regency, huge waves damaged nine homes in Waioti village. Sikka Vice Regent Wera Damianus said Monday that his office plans to relocate the victims.
Bad weather has also damaged an auxiliary community health clinic in East Flores. Vice Regent Yoseph Lagadoni Herin said the clinic, on Solor Island, collapsed after it was hit by a cyclone.
Bad weather in a number of areas in the province has totally crippled transportation.
Harry Teofilus, head of the East Nusa Tenggara Transportation Office said he had advised all boat operators, especially pioneer ships, to temporarily stop operating.
"The condition of the seas in the province is very bad. Shipping must be halted until the weather permits in order to prevent any untoward incidents from happening," he said.
Strong winds and heavy seas in West Nusa Tenggara over the past week have caused coastal erosion, destroying dozens of homes in Karang Panas and Banjar hamlets, Ampena Selatan village, Ampenan district and Mataram city.
Huge waves devastated a fishermen's settlement after a 70-meter section of the wave barrier in the area gave way. As of Monday, dozens of residents have taken refuge at a small mosque in Karang Panas for fear of a recurrence of high tides.
Local neighborhood chief M. Badrun told The Jakarta Post high tides began to pound the shore on Feb. 5 and intensified until breaking the wave barrier along the coast line on Feb. 7.
"During the night, water reached 10 meters on the shore and inundated the settlement, so residents were forced to take refuge at the mosque," Badrun said.
Based on observations, dozens of homes were damaged, especially those near the broken barrier. Four houses were completely destroyed by erosion and dozens of others were partly damaged.
"Some of the residents have salvaged wood and roof tiles so they could rebuild their homes in other areas because their homes are no longer habitable," Badrun said.
The coastal abrasion has further affected at least 59 fishing families. They have not gone out fishing for the past two months due to bad weather.
According to Badrun, 170 people are taking refuge at a school, located 1 kilometer away from the village. The Mataram municipality has stopped providing tents and communal kitchens as of Feb. 8, but remained providing some food, including instant noodles.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, dozens of inter-island boats have been stranded at the port of Paotere due to bad weather. The port administrator has not been issuing sailing permits for the boats.
A number of boat skippers and crew members said their boats had been loaded for the past few days, but they had not yet been able to sail to sea.
As of Monday, the weather in the eastern zone of the Makassar Strait, including the Banda Sea and waters off East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua, remains poor, with a wind velocity of 47 knot per hour, which could trigger waves of up to 3.5 meters high.
Andi Hajramurni contributed to this article from Makassar, South Sulawesi.
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