1,550 Natural Disasters Hit Indonesia, with Flooding the Most Dominant

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported that 1,550 natural disasters occurred in Indonesia until Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Floods dominated, accounting for 644 incidents.

Flooding also recently occurred in Konawe Utara Regency, Southeast Sulawesi. According to Antara news agency, heavy rain since the early morning of July 12, 2021, increased the water level of the Anggomate River, affecting three sub-districts.

Besides floods, hundreds of other natural disasters occurred domestically during the same period. For example, there were 427 instances of tornadoes, 316 landslides, and 118 forest and land fires (karhutla).

Other types of natural disasters occurred in smaller numbers: 21 earthquakes, 21 high tides and abrasion events, and three droughts.

All these natural disasters resulted in 498 deaths and 68 missing persons. A total of 127,865 houses and 2,928 public facilities were damaged.