JAKARTA, Indonesia -- The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) says a variety of natural disasters pose a potential risk to Indonesians this year. "More than 80% of disasters in Indonesia in 2013 will be hydro-meteorological," BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho predicted on December 27th. The country could face damage from floods, landslides, cyclones, droughts, forest fires, and tidal waves, Tempo quoted him as saying.

The Jakarta Post, meanwhile, reported that heavy storms earlier this week triggered flooding that inundated hundreds of houses and swamped hectares of farmland in three regencies -- West Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara, Aceh Besar in Aceh and Bojonegoro in East Java --forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.