Dozens of East Timorese refugees die in West Timor flooding, UN reports
18 May --Intense flooding in West Timor has killed at least 61 people, most of them East Timorese refugees, according to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The disaster occurred after rivers flooded over in Belu district, southeastern West Timor, and the resulting flash floods swept people away.
The floods have effected an estimated 100,000 persons, displacing close to 35,000. Some 1,400 people have been moved to higher grounds, but an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 are still in immediate danger of rising water, UNHCR said.
The UN agency has carried out helicopter surveys and evacuated approximately 100 refugees from a camp in south central West Timor. Today, ten trucks with staff from the International Organization for Migration arrived in the area, and other trucks are also transporting people and their belongings to higher ground.
In neighbouring Kova Lima district of East Timor, some 180 homes and 500 hectares of rice paddies have been flooded just weeks before the crop was due to be harvested, according to UNTAET. To help the displaced families, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was distributing food rations, while UNTAET peacekeepers were attempting to repair the road linking the town of Suai to a nearby port.
