Jakarta – More than 500,000 houses have been destroyed in Indonesia due to riots and natural disasters over the past three months, according to Minister of Housing and Regional Development Erna Witoelar.

"During the last three months, we collected data on the number of destroyed houses in 14 provinces, and were surprised that it was such a high figure, up to half-a-million," Witoelar was quoted by the Indonesian Observer Monday as saying.

She said the number of damaged houses will likely increase as communal conflicts that have engulfed Ambon, capital of Maluku province, since more than one and a half years showed no sign of abatement. Hundreds of thousands of houses have been destroyed in Maluku and North Maluku provinces, where religious riots have been taking place since January 1999, claiming about 3,000 lives.

The minister said the government's commitment to help the people in violence-torn areas repair their house will remain unchanged. She said her office is making efforts to help the people whose houses were destroyed during the riots or natural disasters get access to banking credits.

The Dutch government recently donated 3.5 million US dollars to help rebuild houses in riot-torn areas and in Bengkulu province, which was hit by a devastating earthquake on June 4. "Aside from donations, I have also received soft-loans from the World Bank," she added.