Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) on Sunday distributed 600 cooked food packages to 271 flood victims in Ciganjur neighborhood, Jagakarsa Subdistrict, South Jakarta, currently taking refuge after flood waters inundated their houses on Saturday.

"This morning, we distribute 500 cooked food packages to 271 flood victims who are taking refuge at several temporary shelters and a local resident's house," PMI-South Jakarta Office Spokesman Dedet Mulyadi told local journalists here Sunday.

The displaced residents comprise 96 adults, 37 elderly people, 34 children, and six toddlers, he said.

The flash flood was triggered by the overflowing of Setu Creek after a downpour showered the Ciganjur neighborhood area on Saturday evening.

The heavy rain had also triggered a landslide in a residential area on Damai Street of Kebagusan neighborhood. Due to the flooding and landslide, a resident reportedly died, and two others sustained injuries.

The PMI volunteers also distributed 50 boxes of drinking water, 100 mattresses, and 100 pieces of blankets to the affected residents. "We are now conducting a housing damage assessment in the disaster zone," he added.

Early this week, some 170 households in the Bidara Cina neighborhood area of East Jakarta also bore the brunt of flooding after the Ciliwung River overflowed following downpour in Bogor, West Java Province.

The floodwaters reached a height of 1.5 meters at around 4:30 a.m. local time though began receding to reach 80 centimeters at 10 a.m. local time, according to Umar, 27, a local resident whose house was also submerged by the floodwaters.

Umar believes that the Ciliwung River normalization project should be continued to address the problem of recurrent flooding.

Over 1,200 residents of East Jakarta's Kebon Pala area also experienced flooding on October 5 after the Ciliwung River overflowed.

Early this year, flash floods, triggered by high-intensity rainfall over several days, had swamped several areas in 17 sub-districts of Jakarta and other sub-districts in the capital city's metropolitan areas, including Bekasi and Bogor.

At least 46 people died in the floods that also compelled 173,064 residents in Jakarta's greater areas to shift to safer ground, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
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Translator: Laily R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
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