JAKARTA – At least 157 people have been killed in Indonesia and neighbouring East Timor, with dozens more still missing, after a tropical cyclone battered the Southeast Asian nations, leaving thousands homeless, said authorities today.
Indonesia’s disaster management agency said it has recorded 130 fatalities in a cluster of remote islands near East Timor, where another 27 have been officially listed as dead.
Rescuers in Indonesia are racing to find more than 70 people still unaccounted for, and using diggers to clear mountains of debris left in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Seroja.
Torrential rains sparked flooding and landslides that turned small communities into wastelands of mud, uprooted trees, and forced thousands of people into shelters.
Thousands of homes, as well as hospitals and bridges, were damaged or destroyed in the disaster, while more than 10,000 people have fled to shelters, said authorities.
“We could still see extreme weather (from the cyclone) for the next few days,” said national disaster agency spokesman Raditya Jati.
The storm is moving towards the west coast of Australia. – AFP, April 6, 2021
