President postpones visit to flood-stricken Wasior

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has postponed a planned visit to Wasior in West Papua to meet survivors of Tuesday’s flash flood, which killed over 120 people and displaced thousands of other.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha told kompas.com Saturday said that the President had originally planned to visit Wasior on Tuesday next week.

“But the visit was postponed because the President wanted to give time to disaster management officers to complete disaster response emergency phase,” Julian said.

Julian said the President might leave Jakarta for the visit on Wednesday or Thursday.

The President had asserted that the emergency response measures would continue so that rehabilitation of the devastated town could start soon.

Earlier in the week presidential spokesman Julian said the National Disaster Management Agency had told the President his a visit to Wasior was not yet necessary.

The flash flood that swept through Wasior on Tuesday. Offices, houses, schools and other public facilities were damaged by water, rocks and logs.

Heavy rains that poured in the region from Sunday to Monday caused the flood. It is believed that the fatalities likely drowned after being carried away by floodwaters from a nearby mountain lake.