Extreme drought that destroyed crops triggered a food crisis in Indonesia's Christian-majority conflict-ridden Papua region, leaving at least six people dead and thousands starving, an official said.
The crisis prompted President Joko Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin to order emergency food aid to residents at Puncak Regency in Central Papua Province, one of the worst-hit areas, despite the ongoing conflict between security forces and armed insurgents.
Amin said on Aug. 2 that the government had set a two-week emergency response period to help the residents.
Willem Wandik, a top state official in Puncak Regency said that 7,500 residents were experiencing severe hunger in the Agandugume and Lambewi districts.
He said that the six residents who died, including a baby, suffered from diarrhea after being forced to eat rotten tubers amid a lack of food.
"The famine was triggered by extreme weather. The temperature is very cold and there has been no rain since May. As a result, residents failed to harvest sweet potatoes and taro," he said in a statement on Aug. 1.
He said that currently residents have received emergency cash assistance, but they have to walk for two days to reach the nearest area in Sinak District to be able to get food.
He added that airlines did not dare to bring food aid from Sinak to Agandugume for fear of being attacked by pro-independence rebel groups.
Adrianus Alla, acting director of Social Protection for Natural Disaster Victims of the Ministry of Social Affairs confirmed that they had sent 10.7 tons of food aid and his staff had met with representatives of health workers and residents of Agandugume and Lambewi.
"We will also coordinate with the Ministry of Health to provide medicines," he said, adding that there were also no medicines available in the area.
This is not the first time Papua has been hit by famine during the dry season, which was triggered by El Nino, a climate cycle in the tropical Pacific Ocean caused by warm water which causes the dry spell.
In August last year, hundreds of residents in the Lanny Jaya district suffered from famine that left at least three people dead, after their crops failed due to cold weather during the dry season.
Catholic priest and rights activist Father Bernard Baru said that the famine in the region has been repeating, so the authorities should have prepared to face it.
"The government should have anticipated the impact on the indigenous Papuan people who are in this drought-prone location. This means that the government does not only take action when there are victims," the Papua-based priest said.
He called for a planned effort to ensure residents would not be hit by such a disaster.
Such disasters are certainly related to policy patterns that are not in favor of the environment, he said, so indigenous peoples become increasingly vulnerable when there is climate change, which is something new.
"Years ago, there was no such case in Papua. The people are still able to garden, plant and harvest to produce the food they consume themselves. But now the situation has changed," he said.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency stated that of the 600 seasonal zones in Indonesia, 63 percent of them have entered the dry season, the impact of El Nino.
Fachri Radjab, head of the Climate Change Information Center at the agency, said the affected areas included Sumatra, Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and Papua.
"This year's dry season is expected to be drier than three years ago. Some areas such as East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali and NTT have even experienced periods without rain for more than 60 days," he said.
Indonesia and neighboring Papua New Guinea, bordering Papua region, have previously experienced El Nino with strong intensity in 2015 and moderate intensity in 2019, Indonesia's state weather agency reported.
Source: https://www.ucanews.com/news/drought-leaves-six-dead-in-indonesias-papua/10216