Toll rises to 79 in Indonesia floods

Jakarta: The death toll from flash floods and subsequent landslides in Indonesia’s Papua province has increased to 79, with search and rescue operations continuing on Monday to locate 43 missing people.
Due to the floods and landslides that hit villages in Jayapura district on Saturday night, 4,728 people were forced to evacuate from their home and take shelter at six centres, Natural Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Monday.
A total of 350 houses, over 100 buildings, three bridges, eight school buildings and three religious buildings were also destroyed, Xinhua news agency reported.
On Sunday, authorities declared a state of emergency for 14 days.
Deforestation at the upstream area of a river was blamed as one reason for the disaster.
A total of 41 people were seriously injured and 75 others had minor wounds. (IANS)