"The whirlwind caused damage of minor to significant extent to the houses of affected residents and four buildings used for motorcycle showrooms," Head of the Bangka Belitung Islands Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Mikron Antariksa remarked here on Tuesday.
Some 37 of the 45 damaged houses are located in the Belinyu neighborhood, while eight others are situated in the Kuto Panji neighborhood, he noted, adding that officials of the agency and sub-district administration had registered the affected households.
"We had yet to receive reports on fatalities owing to the whirlwind," Antariksa confirmed.
The BPBD personnel, local government apparatuses, police and military officers, as well as those from the Emergency Response Unit (Tagana) and boy scouts were deployed to the disaster zones to assist the affected residents, he remarked.
Prior to Monday's whirlwind, or locally known as "angin puting beliung," the Air Buluh Village was also struck by a whirlwind that damaged 31 houses.
Various parts of Indonesia are prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and whirlwinds.
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) recorded 2,059 natural disasters that had struck Indonesia during the period from January to September 2020, with the number of deaths reaching 282.
Most disasters were hydrometeorological in nature, or disasters that occurred as a result of the meteorological phenomena, the BNPB had tweeted on Sept 21, 2020.
A total of 771 incidents of floods, 534 whirlwinds, and 377 landslides had hit Indonesia.
The natural disasters had affected and displaced a total of 4.2 million people, claimed 282 lives, and rendered 25 people missing while causing injuries to 427 others.
Furthermore, the natural disasters damaged 30,655 homes and 1,419 public facilities.
The country also recorded a total of 302 forest and land fires as well as five volcanic eruptions.
The BNPB also reported non-natural disasters in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Translator: Aprionis, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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