Toll In Deadly Indonesia Floods Near 1,000

The death toll in Indonesia’s devastating floods closed in on the 1,000 mark Thursday as hundreds of thousands more continued to face shortages, with frustration growing over relief efforts.

Disaster mitigation agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said 990 people had died by late Thursday in the deluge, which laid waste to the northwestern island of Sumatra — the biggest disaster of its kind in recent years. More than 220 people are still missing.

Tropical storms and monsoon rains have pummelled Southeast and South Asia this month, triggering landslides and flash floods from the rainforests of Sumatra to highland plantations in Sri Lanka – and more rains are predicted.

In Sumatra’s Aceh province, scene of a cataclysmic tsunami in 2004, residents are slowly piecing back their lives, but frustrations over the pace of relief efforts are growing.

“People don’t know who to rely on,” said Syahrul, a 39-year-old resident in the northern city of Bireuen, scene of widespread devastation.

Residents have “lost hope… even trying to muster hope for themselves. At this point, they can’t rely on the government at all, given how badly this has been handled,” he told AFP.

In nearby Lhokseumawe, residents were still fighting to keep the mud at bay.

“Nearly 15 days after the flood, every day, all we’ve been able to do is clean our house on the inside only,” said Sariyulis, 36.

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“The outside can’t be cleaned anymore because of the mud,” he told AFP

Most flood victims were complaining about the lack of help from authorities, Sariyulis added.

“We keep hearing a lot of talk about how floods can be handled by each province, but what we’re experiencing is the opposite.”

“After more than two weeks, we’re still grappling with the same issues. If you ask about progress, it’s been minimal,” he said.

Muzakir Munaf, Aceh’s governor, told reporters that an ongoing emergency response needed to be extended for another two weeks “to carry out rehabilitation and urgent infrastructure repairs”.

But the most urgent need was for medicines, and people were getting ill, Muzakir told reporters.

“Our communities are experiencing skin diseases, coughs, itching, and other ailments caused by the flooding,” he said.

Costs to rebuild after the disaster could run up to 51.82 trillion rupiah ($3.1 billion), and the Indonesian government has so far shrugged off suggestions to call for international assistance.

AFP