Jayapura, Papua The Papua provincial government has readied 600 portions of ready-to-eat food every day through its public kitchens for refugees of floods and landslides in Jayapura and its surroundings.
Head of Prevention and Preparation of the Public Order Security Agency and Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) of Papua Province Paminto Widodo noted that each shift will cook 300 portions that his side will distribute twice.
“We will cook 300 portions for lunch and 300 portions for dinner,” Widodo informed here on Saturday.
The ready-to-eat food will be distributed to victims of floods at three evacuation points, including the Youtefa Market, Jayapura.
“This food will not only be given to refugees but also to officers in the field,” Widodo noted.
He noted that the Papua provincial government’s public kitchens, so far, had sufficient stocks for refugees, but his side will increase the portions if the demand rises.
“Several parties are involved in cooking in our public kitchens, including those from the Provincial BPBD and Jayapura City BPBD, community organizations, NGOs, and the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Task Force, among others,” he revealed.
Earlier, heavy rains triggered floods and landslides that struck Jayapura on January 6 in which seven people lost their lives, while at least 160 families were forced to evacuate in Jayapura City, Papua Province.
The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) explained that the atmospheric dynamics caused the floods and landslides.
“The sea surface temperature around Papua’s waters is warm enough to increase convective activity,” Head of the Public Meteorology Center of the BMKG Fachri Radjab explained.
In addition, the northern region of Papua has wind bend areas. This trend is closely related to the meridional gradient of the westerly monsoon winds, with a wet characteristic, he added.
Another factor causal to the high rainfall in Jayapura is the humidity of moist air from the surface layer to the layer of 200 mb, he explained.
Source: Antara News