At least 52 people have died of various diseases following floods that inundated much of the Indonesian capital Jakarta last month, an official said.

The victims died of illnesses such as diarrhoea, respiratory infections, dengue fever and leptospirosis, which is spread by the urine of rats and other animals, said Chalik Masulili, head of the Jakarta Health Office, said Wednesday.

Leptospirosis has so far killed eight people, Masulili told AFP. The disease is transmitted through water or garbage contaminated with leptospire bacteria which come into contact with skin wounds. Not all animal urine contains leptospire bacteria, he said.

The floods and landslides hit several parts of Indonesia and killed at least 147 people nationwide, at least 67 of them in Jakarta and its satellite towns, according to officials. It was not clear whether this figure includes all the deaths from disease. The disaster also left more than 330,000 people in the capital temporarily homeless.

Some 35 legislators from the provincial parliament in East Java will go ahead with a trip to several European countries for "comparative studies", the Jakarta Post reported Wednesday, despite suggestions that the budget would be better used to help flood victims there.

"We can understand the aim of comparative studies, but so far we cannot see any advantages from the several comparative studies the legislature has conducted both at home and overseas," fellow legislator Dja'far Shodiq was quoted as saying. "Meanwhile, thousands of victims of the recent disasters that hit the province are in need of humanitarian aid," he said.