By Mark Bowling
MORE than a hundred people have died after floods and landslides hit Indonesia and East Timor, sparking international appeals for aid.
Cyclonic rains struck a region stretching from Flores island in eastern Indonesia to Asia’s poorest nation, East Timor, where the capital Dili is swamped by flooding in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak.
Australia’s Veterans Care Association (VCA) is one Catholic-backed organisation to launched an urgent go.fund.me appeal to help food, basic supplies and temporary shelter to those affected in East Timor.
“The impending risk of disease, drowning, health support, water and food security are of the utmost concern,” VCA’s project director Michael Stone said.
“Emergency and medical resources are extremely limited and cut off everywhere.”
Torrential rain on Easter Sunday caused widespread flooding and landslides.
On Monday evening, the death toll in East Timor had reached 27, with 13 of those killed in Dili, including at least six children.
Floodwaters reached several metres deep in some parts of the city, with houses on the banks of the Comoro River being dragged into the raging waters.
Even Dili’s presidential palace was reported to have flooded.
“There are roads that have collapsed, trees have fallen, and made it difficult to access some areas,” East Timor’s deputy prime minister Jose Reis said in a statement.
He described the flood as the worst in the country in 40 years.
Adding to East Timor’s woes, Dili’s population of 220,000 was ordered into lockdown last month along with the cities of Baucau and Viqueque following a surge in community transmission of COVID-19.
Mr Stone said due to the global pandemic East Timor was receiving “extremely limited international aid”.
The Veterans Care Association provides spiritually based pastoral care for the well being of veterans, their families and supporters. It runs a rehabilitation program in East Timor, working closely with veterans from that country.
Mr Stone said donations received at https://gofund.me/06c152fd would enable senior Timorese veterans to distribute basic food, sanitary supplies, and temporary shelter for the displaced, poor and most vulnerable flood victims.
