At least 84 people have died following floods and landslides in Papua, Yogyakarta and Central Java over the weekend. These figures provided by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on Monday confirm the agency’s prediction that hydrometeorological disasters will be dominant again this year and reflect the risks of Indonesia’s environmental damage.

Papua recorded the highest death toll with 79 people dead and 43 still missing as of Monday afternoon after a flash flood hit Jayapura regency and municipality on Saturday and Sunday. More than 11,000 families were affected by the flood while more than 4,200 people had to flee their homes.

The high death toll adds to 101 deaths from hydrometeorological disasters — floods, landslides and small tornadoes — that occurred this year up to Feb. 7, according to the BNPB. The biggest death toll before the flood in Papua came from floods and landslides in South Sulawesi in January, which affected 13 regencies and municipalities in the province and killed 79 people.

BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the deadly disaster in Papua occurred after torrential rain fell across the mountainous Cyclops Nature Reserve, much of which has been stripped of tree cover by villagers chopping fire wood and farmers cultivating plantations.

“Around 43,000 people have encroached on the nature reserve since 2003,” he said during a press conference at the BNPB headquarters in Jakarta. Sutopo also said there was extensive sand and gravel quarrying in the Cyclops mountainous area.

Head of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) in Papua, Aiesh Rumbekwan, blamed the flood on “massive” deforestation in Cyclops.

The BNPB’s Sutopo said similar disasters had occurred in the regions a number of times in the past.

Also over the weekend, floods and landslides hit Yogyakarta and Central Java. On Monday, the Yogyakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Yogyakarta) reported at least five dead and one missing following the disasters.

In Purworejo, Central Java, no fatalities have been reported but homes were still inundated with water up to 80 centimeters deep on Monday, forcing about 1,500 people to leave their homes.

Sutopo said the heavy rain was caused by tropical cyclone Savannah in the Indian Ocean affecting the wind flow on Java. The resulting high temperature of the sea surface led to the formation of rain clouds on Java.

“Dozen of houses were damaged by the disaster,” he added.

Sutopo said further that the disaster mitigation agencies were currently in coordination in these regions to rescue more victims. He said that BNPB chief Lt. Gen. Doni Monardo was already in Jayapura to lead the joint search and rescue team.

Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) senior researcher Soeryo Adiwibowo said many people persistently exploited the country’s protected forests, making areas in several parts of the country prone to disaster.

“It’s the central government’s responsibility to protect the natural reserve areas. It seems they are still unable to stop people from exploiting the areas,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“This is not solely a natural phenomenon. The risk of disaster could be reduced if we maintained our forest cover,” he added.

As for Java, Soeryo explained that unruly permit issuance and rapid expansion in the extractive industry had led to a string of disasters on the island, which is on the brink of ecological collapse as most of its forest areas have been converted.

“The deforestation has led to disasters such as flooding and landslides, which have been exacerbated by the recent extreme weather in the country,” he said.

Soery suggested that the regional leaders should take stern measures on people who live in disaster-prone areas.

“The government institutions, including the BNPB, have already developed a map of disaster-prone areas. They should really use that for the solution of spatial arrangements,” he said.

The BNPB has reported that hydrometeorological disasters, such as flooding, landslides and puting beliung (small tornadoes), would remain the predominant types of disaster in the country this year as in 2018, when thousands of natural disasters occurred.

The agency said last year that deforestation and damage to watersheds contributed to the increasing number of hydrometeorological disasters over the years. The agency’s data showed that from 2014 to 2018, hydrometeorological disasters, which include small tornadoes, floods, landslides and drought, account for between 97 and 99 percent of all disasters in Indonesia. Last year, they accounted for 97 percent of 2,564 incidents. (das)

Bambang Muryanto in Yogyakarta and Suherdjoko in Semarang contributed reporting.

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