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400,000 liters of clean water distributed on drought-hit Palue Island
Palue is a small island located off the northern part of Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara. Surrounded by the sea, residents now have to transport clean water from Flores.
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Residents on Palue Island, a part of Sikka regency in East Nusa Tenggara, take clean water from a tank that holds water transported from Flores Island. (JP/Hengky Ola Sura)
T
he disaster mitigation agency of Sikka regency in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) distributed some 400,000 liters of clean water recently to people in eight villages on Palue Island, one of the areas in the regency that has been experiencing drought for the last few months.
The eight villages were Kesokoja, Ladolaka, Lidi, Maluriwu, Nitunglea, Reruwairere, Rokirole and Tuanggeo.
The prolonged dry season has caused more than 10,000 people on the island to exhaust the rainwater collected in their reservoirs. The situation has forced them to buy water and to do so they have to cross the sea to get to nearby Flores Island.
Linda Wea of Nangaliwu hamlet in Lidi village confirmed that the drought made rainwater reservoirs on the islet run dry. This forced people in the region to rent motorboats to buy water in Mausambi, a coastal village on the northern part of Ende regency, Flores.
“We choose Mausambi in Ende regency because it is closer to get there from Palue Island than to go to Maumere,” said Linda referring to the capital of Sikka regency, which is also located on Flores.
Palue is a small island located off the northern part of Flores. To get to Mausambi from Palue takes only about an hour, while it takes four to five hours to reach Maumere.
A motorboat can be rented for Rp 40,000 per return trip from Palue to Mausambi and it can carry up to 20 20-liter jerrycans on each trip.
