T

he West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has warned residents, especially those living in areas prone to landslides, floods and tornadoes, to raise their awareness of disasters during the transitional season.

West Sumatra BPBD emergency and logistics affairs head R. Pagar Negara said a number of disasters had occurred over the past couple of weeks and although they were minor they still claimed lives and caused material losses.

'€œThe potential of landslides, floods and whirlwinds will continue during the transitional season. Residents living on slopes, along river banks and coasts must raise their alert levels when it rains,'€ said Pagar on Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, the roofs of five homes at the Parupuk Tabing coastal area in Padang city, were blown away by strong winds, causing the tenants to seek shelter elsewhere, while in Bungus Barat, on the fringe of Padang, more than 170 homes were engulfed by floods as high as 50 centimeters.

A day earlier on Sunday evening, two homes were swept away by floods and two others badly damaged in Limapuluh Kota regency. A couple and their five children were saved after being swept away by swift currents.

In the same regency, a bridge was broken and another buried by a landslide. On May 19, a landslide and floods took place in the Tanahdatar and Limapuluh Kota regencies and Sawah Lunto city. A woman, Nurbaiti, 75, was killed by a falling durian tree that was toppled by the landslide as she was sleeping inside her home.

On May 16, in Lintau Buo, Tanahdatar, fish farmer M. Alwes, 22, was killed by a landslide and his two colleagues were injured.

Pagar said that based on data at the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG), 77 districts and 14 cities and regencies in West Sumatra were at great risk of soil movement, while 72 other districts in 17 cities and regencies were moderately at risk. Besides that, 16 districts and four cities and regencies are potentially at risk of flash floods.

'€œWe have formed disaster-alert groups in disaster-prone areas, especially those located along river banks, and the BPBD in cities and regencies have also disseminated information,'€ said Pagar.

He added that 68 people were killed in 1,172 disaster incidents in West Sumatra in 2014 and almost 50 percent, or 442, of the incidents were floods, landslides and tornadoes.

Padang Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency'€™s (BMKG)information section head Budi Iman Samiaji said the transitional season in West Sumatra was predicted to last until the end of May.

Separately, the South Sumatra BMKG also issued a similar warning about tornadoes in six regencies and cities in the province ahead of the transition of the season from rainy to dry in May.

The agency said that the regions prone to tornadoes are Palembang city and Pagaralam, Ogan Ilir, Muaraenim and Musirawas regencies.