T

he Lanny Jaya regional administration in Papua said it had distributed enough food supplies to help thousands of residents in three districts survive a food crisis after a recent series of hailstorms hit the area and caused massive harvest failures.

'€œAll villages in the three districts have received food supplies. We have dropped seven tons of rice into the affected areas using a small aircraft,'€ Lanny Jaya Regent Befa Jigibalom told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

A series of hailstorms hit 26 villages in the Kuyawage, Goa Baliem and West Wano districts from July 5 to 7, damaging residents'€™ plants, including potatoes, tubers and vegetables, as they became covered by frost.

Local authorities also reported that 11 residents had died after the air temperature dropped to minus 2 degrees Celsius during the hailstorms.

Befa said that apart from rice and other food supplies, the regency administration had also sent medical assistance teams to monitor the health of residents in the affected areas.

'€œThe teams have been deployed to the affected villages to help those who need medical treatment,'€ he said.

At least 1,200 families live in the three isolated districts, which can only be reached by small aircraft or by walking for two days from the regency'€™s capital city of Tiom.

Befa said that such hailstorms usually occurred every five years. However, the last time this natural phenomenon hit the areas was 10 years ago.

The phenomenon, he added, was considered unique because the hail that fell at night would melt in the morning, but the oil-like liquid left on leaves and trees would make the exposed plants wither and die.

'€œThe phenomenon could lead to famine, as all plants will die and it will take months for the local residents to replant,'€ said Befa.

In the past, he said, people whose regions suffered from hailstorms would flee to other regions or have their food supplied from other areas.

Similar hailstorms also hit several districts in the neighboring Puncak and Nduga regencies earlier this month, leaving thousands of local residents struggling with a food crisis.

On Tuesday, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa visited Timika, Papua, to hand over aid to the three affected regencies.

The aid, which includes, among other things, 15 tons of rice, 600 blankets and 600 boxes of instant noodles, were officially received by the head of the Papua Social Affairs Agency, Ribka Haluk.

The head of the Puncak Social Affairs Agency, Juliana Kelay, made assurances that all regions recently hit by the hailstorms had received the necessary aid.

'€œThere is no need to worry that residents in the affected villages will be experiencing famine,'€ Juliana told the Post.

On Wednesday, Khofifah is scheduled to visit Agandugume district in the Puncak regency, one of the districts worst hit by the hailstorms.

'€œShe was initially scheduled to fly today [Tuesday], but cancelled because of bad weather,'€ Juliana said, adding that it was also because of bad weather that the aid had to be handed over in Timika.

Like the three isolated districts in Lanny Jaya, the Agandugume district is located at between 2,300 and 2,500 meters above sea level and can only be reached by small aircraft. The district is situated just below the 4,884-meter Puncak Jaya Mountain, one of the world'€™s seven tallest summits.