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Bad weather impedes aid delivery in drought-hit Central Papua
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National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Suharyanto (fourth left) and Coordinating Human Development Minister Muhadjir Effendy (fourth right) examine food aid at Mozes Kilangin airport in Timika, Central Papua, on Aug. 2, 2023. The humanitarian aid was to be distributed to residents of Puncak regency, Central Papua, affected by famine caused by prolonged drought. (-/Courtesy of BNPB/Handout)
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id has been arriving in Central Papua’s mountainous Puncak regency to help residents endure the effects of months of drought, but bad weather and limited infrastructure have held back distribution efforts.
The districts of Agandugume and Lambewi in Puncak regency have been suffering from drought and cold weather since June, causing key crops to fail or rot and forcing locals to eat spoiled tubers. Some 7,500 residents of the two districts were affected, with six people, including a baby, dying of dehydration or diarrhea.
Puncak regency, because of its altitude, is one of the only places in the country where snow falls.
Humanitarian aid arrived on Thursday at the Sinak airstrip in Sinak district, the launching point for aid to nearby Agandugume. The supplies, which included 50 tonnes of rice, 13,000 packets of ready-to-eat meals and 10,000 blankets, were transported on a Cessna Caravan aircraft, whose total payload was around 900 kilograms.
Along with the aid came National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Suharyanto and Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy, who were instructed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to go to the affected districts.
Read also: Drought-induced famine kills six in Central Papua
The ministers and the supplies had arrived at Mozes Kilangin airport in Timika regency, Central Papua, on Wednesday with plans to fly to Sinak on the same day. But bad weather prevented the plane from taking off, forcing authorities to leave on Thursday instead.
