Hardships mount in storms-ravaged Indonesia and Sri Lanka as flood tolls rise
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Forestry personnel use elephants to help clear debris in a flood-affected area in Pidie Jaya, Indonesia.
PHOTO: EPA
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JAKARTA – Officials in flood-hit parts of Indonesia reported shortages of food, shelter and medicine, as the death toll reached 961 on Dec 8 following weeks of heavy rain.
A slew of tropical storms and monsoon rains has pummelled South-east and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the rainforests of Indonesia’s western Sumatra island to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.
“Everything is lacking, especially medical personnel. We are short on doctors,” Mr Muzakir Manaf, governor of Indonesia’s Aceh province, told reporters late on Dec 7.
“Basic necessities are also important. It’s not just one or two items,” he said.
Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said 961 people in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra had been killed, while 293 were missing.
The downpours and subsequent landslides injured at least 5,000 people and devastated infrastructure.
Hospitals, schools and offices are in ruins, while many bridges have been destroyed, cutting off communities.
Costs to rebuild after the disaster could run up to 51.82 trillion rupiah (S$4 billion)
Extra troops
In Sri Lanka, the military deployed thousands of extra troops
More than two million people – nearly 10 per cent of the population – have been affected by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.
Sri Lanka is expecting further heavy monsoon
Army chief Lasantha Rodrigo said 38,500 security personnel have been deployed to boost recovery and clean-up operations in flood-affected and landslide-hit areas, nearly doubling the initial deployment.
“Since the disaster, security forces have been able to rescue 31,116 people who were in distress,” Lieutenant-General Rodrigo said in a statement.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake unveiled a recovery package, offering 10 million rupees (S$42,000) for victims to buy land in safer areas and rebuild.
There is also livelihood support and cash assistance to replace kitchen utensils and bedding and to buy food.
It is not clear how much the relief package will cost the government, which is still emerging from economic meltdown in 2022 when it ran out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports.
Mr Dissanayake has said the government cannot fund reconstruction alone and has appealed for foreign assistance, including from the International Monetary Fund.
In Indonesia’s Banda Aceh, long queues formed for drinking water and fuel, and prices of basic commodities such as eggs were skyrocketing.
Seasonal monsoon rains are a feature of life in South Asia and South-east Asia, flooding rice fields and nourishing the growth of other key crops.
However, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly throughout the regions. AFP
