Death toll from Indonesia's floods, landslides climbs to 43, with 19 missing

 Death toll from floods and landslides in western Indonesia's Central Java Province has risen to 43 on Monday, with 19 others missing, an official at the national disaster management agency said.

Search for the missing persons has resumed on Monday morning involving hundreds of rescuers, the official, Veri, told Xinhua.

"The focus of the operation today (Monday) is to find the corpses and search for other affected persons," he said.

An assessment of the impact of the floods and landslides is currently underway, the official said.

The agency has earlier said that 14 people were severely wounded and hundreds of houses badly damaged.

The districts of Purworejo, Banjarnegara and Kebumen are the hardest-hit areas, and most of the casualties came from there, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the agency has said.

Sixteen districts and cities have been affected by the disasters since Saturday after hours of heavy downpours, he said.

Landslides have also blocked roads that hampered access to the disaster-affected-areas, Sutopo added.

Indonesia is frequently hit by floods and landslides during heavy downpours.

source : xinhua