Manado Needs to be Rehabilitated Immediately: IRC

Manado (Antara) - Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Chairman Jusuf Kalla stated that immediate rehabilitation is required in the city of Manado and surrounding areas which have been affected by flash floods. "City rehabilitation is of utmost importance. Food and clean water is also very essential," Kalla noted while monitoring the location that was worst affected by flash floods in the Tikala sub-district, Manado on Monday. Kalla has asked the community to work together in rehabilitating their city while waiting for external assistance to restore normalcy. The Indonesian Red Cross is prepared to assist the rehabilitation efforts for Manado city and the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, the North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundayang stated that clean water is necessary for flash flood victims in the city of Manado, Tomohon and Minahasa on Wednesday, Jan. 15. "Clean water is urgently needed; food is not a major problem, but water is," pointed out Sarundayang. Sarundayang added that the flood this time was three times wider than any of the previous floods that have ever hit Manado. "The flood water level reaches three meters high and rises at noon," explained Sarundayang. The disaster claimed 19 and has left more than 400 people displaced and more than a thousand houses damaged in the city of Manado, Tomohon, and Minahasa. Flash floods took place after a torrential rain since Monday, Jan. 13 and caused the overflow of the Sario, Tondano and Sawangan rivers, triggering the disaster. Several home appliances and furniture were washed away by the flood and are now scattered on the streets of Manado, where the roads are still covered with mud and garbage. Local residents were reported busy cleaning their house off the wood and other trash that was left behind by the floods. Most of them were also seen queuing up for clean water distribution from the Red Cross on certain locations. (*)