Over the last few months, various regions in Indonesia have been hit by natural disasters such as floods, landslides, and strong wind, causing huge material losses  and claiming tens of lives.

Floods and landslides were mainly triggered by relatively high precipitation during the ongoing rainy season.

Since the beginning of the rainy season in November 2012, floods and landslides have been reported in many provinces such as Jakarta, Jambi, Papua, West Java, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, East Java, Central Java, Gorontalo, Aceh, North Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara.

In Jakarta alone, at least 20 people were reportedly killed in major floods that  paralyzed the capital city and surrounding areas, forcing the Jakarta Governor to proclaim a ten-day state of emergency from January 17 to 27, 2013.

Also last January, in many Indonesian regions, ships and boats could not sail and fishermen were  warned to be cautious due to strong winds and huge waves as the impacts of  Cyclone Narelle that had hit Australia and Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines – both are  Indonesia’s immediate neighbors.

A number of buildings were damaged and several people were killed by whirlwinds particularly in South Sulawesi.

The latest disaster was reported in Bali, where floods and landslides claimed two lives and displaced around hundreds people.

In a plenary cabinet meeting, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reminded the Indonesian people that floods and landslides occurring in several Indonesian regions lately have indicated that natural disasters are not over yet in this country and therefore the people must always be on full alert.

“I remind you that Indonesia is not yet safe from natural disasters,” he said.