Indonesians pick up the pieces after floods ravage island

BANDA ACEH – Gazing at the destruction in her flood-hit village in Indonesia, Ms Fitriati is in despair and in need of help after the devastating natural disaster that killed hundreds on Sumatra island.

“This is the first time the flood has been this severe. There were floods before, but not as severe as this,” said the 40-year-old woman, who goes by one name, inspecting the damage from heavy monsoon rain.

Of the

more than 400 weather-related deaths

recorded in the past week on the Indonesian island, at least 54 people have been killed in Aceh province, where Ms Fitriati lives and where nearly 50,000 families have been displaced by flooding and landslides.

For some residents, this has reignited the trauma of a tsunami that ravaged Aceh in 2004, killing more than 170,000 people in the province alone.

“At that time, all I could think about was finding a way to evacuate. We were very scared. Extremely scared,” North Aceh resident Maulidin, 41, told AFP.

Ms Fitriati was asleep at home when the flooding hit on the night of Nov 26. Alerted by the rumbling of water from a nearby river, she woke her family up and fled the house, seeing the water level was rapidly rising.

“My house is already destroyed, all my belongings are ruined, and mud is inside,” she said. The house was tilted, buried under mud that almost reached the roof, with cracks all over the walls.

Recalling previous floods, Ms Fitriati said: “They were only chest-deep and subsided in a day. They did not destroy houses or cause any fatalities. This is extremely bad.”

She added: “I no longer know what to say when I see the condition of our house like this. Even if I cry, no tears come out any more. My tears have dried up.

“We really hope we will get help so that we do not starve.”

‘Second tsunami’

In a village in West Sumatra province, where the authorities have reported at least 90 deaths, Ms Afrianti Usnia was clearing her house of mud and debris.

When the flood hit, she only managed to grab a few items of clothes for her baby before fleeing to a relative’s house. “The water came like a big wave. All my belongings are gone,” the 39-year-old housewife told AFP.

“I am still traumatised, but our life is in this village. I hope the government can be fair. We have often been affected by floods, but we have never received assistance from the government.”

The authorities have conducted a weather modification operation to divert the rain, and distributed aid using planes and warships to the affected areas.

But the destruction was massive, with access and communication in many areas still cut off.

“The situation in several areas is very critical, with some villages still trapped in floods and inaccessible,” Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf said on Nov 29.

“It is as if Aceh is experiencing a second tsunami.” AFP