At least 6,700 people have so far been affected by last Friday’s floods in several neighborhoods in central and eastern Dili, the Timorese Civil Protection said today.
Theneighborhoods of Santa Cruz and Becora are the most affected , with close to 2,100 and 1,750 people affected , respectively , according to the latest Civil Protection report .
Significant impacts were also recorded in the neighborhood of Bidau Santa-Ana (907 people), Bairro Pité (456) and in the Hera area, just outside the capital to the east, where about 590 families live, he added.
The floods that caused a death, a 16-year-old girl, affected populations in 12 ‘sucos’ (equivalent to parishes), he said.
Teams from various Timorese Civil Protection structures , from other national and international agencies met again early in the morning (local time) to analyze the situation and to coordinate support for the victims.
Aid from companies and citizens, national and foreign, continues to reach Civil Protection to be distributed to hundreds of people who are currently in the three temporary reception centers established in two Civil Protection sites and in the church of Bidau .
About 300 people, initially accommodated in temporary centers, have now gone to their homes, or what remains of them, in order to receive support.
Cleaning tasks continue to take place in the most affected areas , with heavy equipment mobilized by the Timorese Ministry of Public Works, to be used to clean roads and, in particular, the affected streams , which have become more silted.
The office of the Timorese Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak , who convened an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers for today, referred in publications on the official page of the social network Facebook the ongoing efforts to provide emergency support to the most affected .
With regard to cleaning interventions, the head of the Government indicated that, since Saturday morning, “heavy equipment has been used to try to normalize movement”.
The tasks involve personnel and equipment of the Equipment Management Institute ( IGE ), which is acting in the creeks, with actions to involve heads of directions of Public Works, Water and Sanitation and Electricity .