Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Friday 3 January 2020
Floods in Indonesia capital recede as death toll reaches 30

NINIEK KARMINI ber of displaced people of Bekasi and Tangerang,
Associated Press at temporary shelters had where rivers had burst their
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) fallen to about 5,000 from banks, large areas remain
— Residents of Indone- 19,000. Officials had earlier inundated.
sia’s capital who had said 35,000 people were in Residents of Bekasi waded
been forced into shelters shelters across the greater through water up to their
by widespread flooding metropolitan area. necks or floated on make-
began returning to their Those returning to their shift rafts carrying clothes
homes Thursday as the homes found streets cov- and other salvaged pos-
waters started to recede, ered in mud and debris. sessions. Some scrambled
though the death toll from Cars that had been parked onto roofs to await rescue
the disaster jumped to 30. in driveways were swept from soldiers and emer-
Monsoon rains and ris- away, landing upside gency workers in rubber
ing rivers submerged at down in parks or piled up dinghies.
least 182 neighborhoods in narrow alleys. Sidewalks “The government is aw-
in greater Jakarta starting were strewn with sandals, ful and the rescue effort
Wednesday and caused pots and pans and old Youths use an inflatable raft to move through a flooded is too slow,” said Imas Na-
landslides in the Bogor and photographs. neighborhood in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020. rulita, who spent 36 hours
Associated Press
Depok districts on the city’s Authorities took advan- on the second floor of her
outskirts. tage of the receding wa- tens of thousands of resi- since 2013, when 47 peo- suburban house with her
Jakarta Gov. Anies Bawes- ters to clear away mud dences and businesses. ple were killed after Jakar- 6-month-old baby.
dan said much of the wa- and remove piles of wet At their peak, the floods ta was inundated by mon- She said that she have a
ter had receded by Thurs- garbage from the streets. had inundated thousands soon rains. neighbor who is sick but no
day evening and the num- Electricity was restored to of homes and buildings, Jakarta’s Halim Perdan- one has come to rescue
forced authorities to cut akusumah domestic air- him. “In this modern time,
Hong Kong legal groups condemn off electricity and water port reopened Thursday no one should have died
because of this,” she said.
and paralyzed transport after operations were sus-
protester insults to judge networks, National Disaster pended when flood wa- Social affairs minister Juliari
Mitigation Agency spokes- ter submerged its runway, Peter Batubara said the
or influenced by political man Agus Wibowo said. said Muhammad Awalu- government dispatched
considerations are wholly Floodwaters reached as ddin, the president director medical teams and rubber
unjustified." high as 2.5 meters (more of PT. Angkasa Pura II, the rafts to the worst-hit areas,
Along with many civic and than 8 feet) in places. airport’s operator. Nearly while rescuers in boats de-
business groups, the Law Wibowo said the number of 20,000 passengers had livered instant noodles and
Society and Bar Associa- people killed in the disaster been affected by the clo- rice to those who chose to
tion had been critical of had climbed to 30. sure. stay on the upper floors of
proposed extradition legis- It was the worst flooding In Jakarta’s satellite cities their homes. q
The lion statue in front of the
international HSBC Bank lation that set off the origi-
branch is covered with red nal protests in June. They
paint in Hong Kong, Thursday, have been less outspoken
Jan. 2, 2020. about the increasingly vio-
Associated Press lent protests except when
the city's independent ju-
Associated Press diciary has been attacked.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Many protesters are driv-
Kong's Law Society and en concerns that China
Bar Association on Thurs- is gradually tightening its
day condemned abusive control over Hong Kong's
graffiti sprayed by protest- institutions, from major busi-
ers on a court building that nesses, to law enforcement
insulted a judge by name. and the media.
The groups called that "an The attack on the court
affront to the rule of law building was also con-
and judicial integrity" in the demned by police spokes-
former British colony, which man Kwok Ka-chuen at a
has retained its unique ju- briefing Thursday.
dicial system free from the "In one of the most alarm-
corruption and political in- ing cases, rioters spray-
terference so common on painted offensive words on
mainland China. the outer wall of the High
The incident came Court to insult a judge,"
Wednesday during a New Kwok told reporters. "This
Year's Day anti-govern- kind of attack will make a
ment march that swiftly de- dent in the spirit of the law
volved into running battles and threaten the indepen-
between police and hard- dence of the judiciary."
core demonstrators. Kwok said police had ar-
"The graffiti are outrageous rested 420 people dur-
and firmly condemned,"the ing the New Year holiday,
joint letter stated. "Abusive bring the total arrested dur-
comments implying that ju- ing the protests to around
dicial decisions were made 7,000. q