The Adventist Development and Relief Agency aided more than 8,000 flood survivors on two different islands in Indonesia during January.
Heavy rains in the first week of January triggered flooding in the lowlands of Pasir District, East Kalimantan Province on Kalimantan Island. Fourteen villages were flooded and 14,000 people evacuated. Thousands of acres of fields ready for harvest were damaged, with loss of crops and animals. As flood waters dropped and people returned to their villages, ADRA Indonesia met the immediate need for food by supplying basic necessities for more than 3,000 people.
The last five days of January brought incessant rain to Jakarta. Flooding in low-lying areas forced evacuation of some 250,000 people. The Jakarta Post described the flooding as the worst in Jakarta’s history. ADRA Indonesia responded to immediate needs of 5,000 people by distributing drinking water, rice, and other day-to-day items.
ADRA continues to be active in Indonesia through a variety of programs, including small business loans, clean water projects, an orphanage, food for work programs, drought relief projects, and other disaster response activities.
Located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Indonesia is made up of nearly 14,000 islands—only 6,000 of them occupied. Its population of 216 million people is the fourth largest in the world.