Some 1,253 elementary and junior high school students in Lebak Gedong Sub-district, Lebak District, Banten Province, for instance, yet stayed at home on Monday since their schools remained closed owing to the catastrophe that struck on January 1, 2020.
"We plan to resume teaching and learning activities on January 12," Secretary of Lebak District's Education and Culture Office Abdul Malik stated.
Lebak Gedong Sub-district's areas bore the maximum impact of the flash floods and landslides in early January during which several school buildings got swamped. Among those inundated were the public junior high schools of SMPN 1, SMPN 2, SMPN 3, SMPN 4, SDN 1, and SDN II Banjarsari.
"The SMPN 4 and SDN II Banjarsari school buildings were also affected by the floodwaters and landslide," Malik stated, adding that some 1,253 students and 27 teaching and administrative staff members were directly affected by the catastrophe.
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The number of affected students, teachers, and administrative staffers could likely increase since the authorities are yet accruing data on the recent disaster that also caused damage to road sections and bridges.
"We hope the accurate data on teachers and students, affected by this catastrophe, would have been finalized," he added.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), this early January's flash floods and landslides had killed 60 people and resulted in two others going missing.
The flooding swamped a wide range of areas in various sub-districts in the provinces of Jakarta, West Jakarta, and Banten, the agency's spokesman, Agus Wibowo, noted in a press statement.
The flash floods, caused by high-intensity rainfall over the past three days, swamped several areas of 18 sub-districts in Bekasi District, 17 sub-districts in Jakarta, and 13 sub-districts in Bogor District and Tangerang City respectively.
The disaster also affected 12 sub-districts in Bekasi City, 11 sub-districts in Depok City, and six sub-districts in Lebak District, Bogor City, and Tangerang Selatan City respectively, Wibowo stated.
Consequently, floodwaters, submerging houses, led to the forced displacement of 149,537 residents of Bekasi City in West Java Province. They were accommodated at 97 temporary shelters, while 11,474 Jakartans also took refuge and stayed at 66 temporary shelters.
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Translator: Mansyur S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
