July 2009

This report is prepared based on information provided by UN agencies, INGOs, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency ( Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika – BMKG), the National Disaster Management Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana – BNPB), the Ministry of Health (MoH), and media reports .

I. Natural Disasters Update Hotspots and Haze

Drought Fires have destroyed thousands of hectares of forest land in on Island. The Head of the forest BMKG has forecasted delayed rains because of El Niño fire management unit of the Riau Forestry Office said – a weather phenomenon that can trigger drought, the fires have covered an estimated area of over 6,000 prolong the dry season, increase temperatures and hectares. The largest affected areas have been Kubu, create water shortages. The weather phenomenon is Rokan Hilir, Dumai and Bengkalis district. The South expected to last into 2010. Many parts of are Sumatra Forestry Agency has predicted that the number already experiencing the repercussions of drought and of forest and land fires (hot spots) will peak in August water shortages. Northern parts of , Bali, East and and September in the province. On 21 July, satellite , Southern , Northern images showed 2,248 hot spots in Sumatra compared and parts of have all had less than 50 mm with 1,229 from the same time last year and surpassed of rainfall in July. even the 2,031 hot spots from 2006, the last time that haze hit hard. Analysts say the fires have According to media reports, more than 40,000 hectares been fuelled by an earlier and longer dry season caused of rice paddy fields are threatened by drought in West by the El Niño weather phenomenon. Java. In Klaten, , more than 80,000 people in 28 are affected by water shortages and the According to BMKG, at least 10 districts in Riau have local government has assigned water tanks to help those experienced forest fires. There have also been reports affected. The drought is also affecting the neighbouring of a spike in respiratory problems among residents in districts of Banjarnegara, Purbalingga and Pemalang. and Riau, where up to 44,000 people in had sought treatment for respiratory Officials from tap water operator PT PAM Lyonnaise ailments since May. Jaya (Palyja) in said there is a possibility of water shortages in North and West Jakarta. Several areas of North Jakarta could have their water supply completely Earthquakes halted. Water capacity has so far decreased from 3,300 liters per second to 3,000 liters per second. There were 47 earthquakes recorded at 5.0 Richter Scale (RS) or above in 12 provinces: , North Indonesia’s Agriculture Ministry’s Director for the , , West Nusa Tenggara, West Protection of Food Crops warned the government and Sumatra, , Maluku, , farmers to brace for the worst-case scenario as drought , , and Papua. Two may wreak havoc on food supplies. The Minister strong earthquakes, both measuring 6.1 RS and 6.4 RS acknowledged the plentiful supply from the past two rocked East Nusa Tenggara and Bengkulu in July. There years, but reiterated that the maintenance of the supply were no reports of injuries, damages or tsunami alerts. has to take precedence over exports. Meanwhile, See map of affected areas. according to the Trade Minister, if drought hampers Indonesia’s rice production, the government may have to prioritize securing supplies over exports. Floods

Torrential rains triggered floods that inundated residential areas and disrupted transport in city, but no casualties and significant damages have been

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Indonesia Menara Thamrin 10th Fl., Jl. M.H. Thamrin No.3, Jakarta 10250 Tel. 62 21 314 1308, Fax. 62 21 319 00 003

Monthly Humanitarian Update July 2009

reported. Meanwhile, five people were killed and http://www.adb.org/documents/books/economics- several injured in a landslide in , . climate-change-sea/Economics-Climate-Change.pdf II. Others HIN1 Virus Refugees Cases of H1N1 flu continue to increase in Indonesia. The last report from MoH Director General of Disease Following the rescue of 198 Rohingya refugees in Control and Environmental Health confirmed over 650 February, according to different media reports at least cases in 15 provinces mainly in Jakarta, , East, 77 have escaped from a refugee camp in East Aceh, after West and Central Java, Bali and Riau. The Health spending almost six months awaiting their refugee status Minister confirmed one death from H1N1, although determinations. Officials confirmed that ten were later there have been at least three other suspected deaths. detained by the police, while others are still at large. To anticipate the stark increase in the number of cases in Bali, the provincial health department plans to increase from 23 to 53 the number of quarantine rooms Disaster Risk Reduction available in Sanglah hospital. Between 27 July and 28 July, BNPB conducted a two-day The (UI) has requested support workshop on the "Application of the International from MoH, international institutes and other national Domestic Response Laws (IDRL) to facilitate the universities to help develop an H1N1 vaccine. The establishment of the National Policy on International University’s Institute for Virology and Cancer Humanitarian Assistance in Indonesia". One of the main Biology (IHVCB) is already conducting preliminary outputs was the first draft of the guidelines for research with the Department of Microbiology at the international humanitarian assistance during emergency Faculty of Medicine. response in Indonesia.

On 29 July, the Consortium for Disaster Education Climate Change (CDE), supported by the UNDP Safer Community through Disaster Risk Reduction (SC-DRR) project, held According to a study by the Asian Development Bank a one-day workshop to update DRR education (ADB) entitled “The Economics of Climate Change in stakeholders on the results of the CDE Task Force in : A Regional Review” global warming is worse in reviewing the draft of the National Strategy on DRR than the rest of the world and will have a mainstreaming into the Educational System. The devastating economic impact on the region. The study workshop aimed at getting inputs from stakeholders on focused on five countries, including Indonesia, and three key documents prepared by the CDE Task Force warned that if these countries do not mitigate or adapt related to the above strategy: the Academic Script to climate change, they will suffer a projected average System; Lessons Learned from the Review Process and loss of 2.2 percent of gross domestic product by 2100 the CDE draft. on an annual basis, assuming the impact is mainly on agriculture and their coastal zones. See attached link for access to the full report:

Further Information

Ignacio Leon-Garcia, Chief of OCHA Indonesia Email: [email protected]

Laksmita Noviera, Humanitarian Affairs Analyst Email: [email protected]

Amy Brathwaite, Reports Officer Email: [email protected]

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Indonesia 2 Menara Thamrin 10th Fl., Jl. M.H. Thamrin No.3, Jakarta 10250 Tel. 62 21 314 1308, Fax. 62 21 319 00 003

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Indonesia Menara Thamrin 10th Fl., Jl. M.H. Thamrin No.3, Jakarta 10250 Tel. 62 21 314 1308, Fax. 62 21 319 00 003