36 Houses Damaged By Whirlwind

Ambon (Antara Bali) - Some 36 houses in Tepa and Depur,  Southeast Maluku regency, had been damaged by a whirlwind on March 23, 2012, secretary of the Maluku Disaster Mitigation Agency Kilfy Wakanno said.

"Six of the 36 houses had been totally damaged,  14 heavily, and 16 others lightly," he said in  Ambon on Sunday.

The wind blowing at a speed of  80 KM per hour also seriously damaged a building, and a church at Elat was heavily damaged.

According to early official data, the material loss caused by the whirlwind had been estimated at Rp1.5 billion.

Kilfy said the regional disaster mitigation agency and the Southeast Maluku social service have established coordination to channel assistance to the disaster location on March 24, 2012.

Earlier, Ambon port administrator public relations officer Djoko acknowledged that he has banned inter-insular passenger boats from sailing, as strong wind is blowing at a speed of 40 km per hour, and the waves reached a height of 2 - 6 meters.(IGT)