Death toll exceeds 900 after catastrophic floods and landslides in Indonesia

Emergency teams raced against time on Friday after last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides that hit parts of Asia and killed more than 1,500 people. Relief operations were underway, but the magnitude of the need exceeded the capabilities of rescuers.

More than 900 people have died in Indonesia, the country’s disaster management agency reported Saturday, according to News. The death toll rose to 908 and 410 people are still missing.

Officials said 486 people were confirmed dead in Sri Lanka and 185 in Thailand. Three deaths were confirmed in Malaysia.

Many villages in Indonesia and Sri Lanka remained buried under mud and debris, and nearly 900 people remained missing in both countries, while recovery was further advanced in Thailand and Malaysia.

As the waters recede, survivors discover that the disaster has crippled their villages’ livelihoods. Roads that once connected cities and districts with the outside world are cut off, leaving some areas accessible only by helicopter. Transmission towers collapsed under the weight of the landslides, plunging communities into darkness and causing internet outages.

Survivors call for urgent help amid widespread devastation

In Aceh Tamiang, the worst affected area in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the infrastructure is in ruins. Entire villages in the lush hill district lie submerged under a thick layer of mud. More than 260,000 residents fled their homes that were once on green farmland. For many, survival depends on the speed of aid, with clean water, sanitation and housing top the list of urgent priorities.

Trucks carrying relief supplies are moving along roads connecting the North Sumatra city of Medan with Aceh Tamiang, which reopened almost a week after the disaster, but distribution is being delayed by debris on the roads, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said.

An News photojournalist described widespread devastation in Aceh Tamiang after flash floods hit the area, with cars overturned and homes severely damaged. Animal carcasses are scattered among the rubble. Many residents are still haunted by the 2004 tsunami that devastated Aceh and killed an estimated 230,000 people worldwide, 160,000 of them in Aceh alone.

On a rickety bridge crossing the swollen Tamiang River, families found shelter under makeshift tents made of torn sheets and cloth.

One survivor there, Ibrahim bin Usman, cradled his grandchildren in the muddy ground where his house once stood. She told how log-filled floodwaters hit her home and the homes of her children and siblings, forcing her family of 21, including babies, to cling to the roof of a warehouse before being evacuated by fellow villagers in a small wooden boat.

“Six of my family’s houses were razed,” he said. “This was not a flood, it was a tsunami coming from the hills. Many bodies are still buried under the mud.”

Residents drink muddy water from the flood that destroyed their homes.

With wells contaminated and pipes destroyed, floods have turned necessities into luxuries.

Resident Mariana, who uses a single name like many Indonesians, broke down in tears as she recalled how she survived when water invaded her village on November 27. “The water continued to rise, forcing us to flee. Even on higher ground, it didn’t stop. We panicked.”

The 53-year-old widow said she and others eventually reached a two-story school, but survival was grim: there was no food or clean water. “We drank the flood water after letting it sit and boiling it. The children drank it too,” said Mariana, whose house was devastated.

A clothing trader in Kampung Dalam village, Joko Sofyan, said residents had no choice but to drink the same water that destroyed their homes while they waited for help and caused children to fall ill.

“My house is just rubble now,” said Sofyan, a father of two. “We urgently need food, medicine and clean water.”

Survivor blames deforestation and corruption

While some help has arrived, survivors say they need household equipment for cooking.

Frustration is mounting: “Why is there no public kitchen? We have nothing left,” Hadi Akher shouted to the crowd as rescuers struggled to maintain order among long lines of hungry villagers near a truck full of relief supplies.

Akher, who was bare-chested like most men in flood-affected areas due to lack of clothing, blamed deforestation for worsening the disaster and accused local officials of corruption.

“These deadly floods occurred because there are too many corrupt officials here,” he said, prompting complaints from the crowd.