HUNDREDS OF HOUSES IN W SUMATRA SUBMERGED

Padang, W Sumatra, Feb 6 (ANTARA) - Floods inundated 200 houses in Koto Panjang Minturun areas of Koto Tangah suburb, West Sumatran capital city of Padang on Friday.

The one meter-deep floods were triggered by torrential rains showering Koto Tangah suburb for two and half hours, residents said.

According to Coordinator of West Sumatran Province's Disaster Recovery Division Ade Edwar, the people whose houses were submerged had been evacuated to safer places.

There were no fatalities but the floods had cut off roads linking Koto Panjang Minturun to its neighboring areas. Some cars were stuck on the flooded roads, he said.

"The floods also submerged tens of hectares of fields," Edwar said.

Some displaced people had returned home after the depth of the flood waters gradually got reduced. Despite this, he asked them not to go out at night for the sake of their safety.

"As a result of the September 30, 2009 earthquake, some roads of Padang city are damaged and vulnerable to landslides," he said.

The torrential rains also showered Bogor city. Following the rain and strong wind, landslides occurred in the South, West and East Bogor suburbs.

As a result, nine houses were seriously damaged but there were no fatalities, a West Bogor sub-district government official said.

"One of the houses was completely destroyed," Abdul Muid said.

In West Bogor suburb, the landslide hit Purba Sari village. Two houses got minor damages while the other one was destroyed, he said.

The landslides might have been caused by the soil's inability to absorb water as a result of erosion due to densely-populated areas, he said.

The Indonesian archipelago is vulnerable to various natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, and landslides.