South-east Asia storm deaths near 700 as scale of disaster is revealed

PALEMBAYAN, Indonesia – Rescue teams in western Indonesia were on Dec 1 battling to clear roads cut off by cyclone-induced landslides and floods, as improved weather revealed more of the scale of a disaster that has killed close to 700 people in South-east Asia.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have seen large-scale devastation after

a rare tropical storm

formed in the Malacca Strait, fuelling torrential rains and wind gusts for a week that hampered efforts to reach people stranded by mudslides and high floodwaters.

At least 176 have been killed in Thailand and three in Malaysia, while the death toll climbed to 502 in Indonesia on Dec 1, with 508 missing, according to official figures.

Under sunshine and clear blue skies in the town of Palembayan in Indonesia’s West Sumatra, hundreds of people were clearing mud, trees and wreckage from roads. Some residents tried to salvage valuable items like documents and motorcycles from their damaged homes.

Men in camouflage outfits sifted through piles of mangled poles, concrete and sheet metal roofing as pickup trucks packed with people drove around looking for missing family members and handing out water to people, some trudging through knee-deep mud.

The government’s recovery efforts include restoring roads, bridges and telecommunication services. More than 28,000 homes have been damaged in Indonesia and 1.4 million people affected, according to the disaster agency.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visited the three affected provinces on Dec 1 and praised residents for their spirit in the face of what he called a catastrophe.

“There are roads that are still cut off, but we’re doing everything we can to overcome difficulties,” he said in North Sumatra.

“We face this disaster with resilience and solidarity,” he said. “Our nation is strong right now, able to overcome this.”

The devastation in the three countries follows months of adverse and deadly weather in South-east Asia, including typhoons that have

lashed the Philippines and Vietnam

and caused frequent and prolonged flooding elsewhere.

Scientists have warned that extreme weather events

will become more frequent

as a result of global warming.

Restoration efforts under way

In Thailand, the death toll rose slightly to 176 on Dec 1 from flooding in eight southern provinces that affected about 3 million people and led to a major mobilisation of its military to evacuate critical patients from hospitals and reach people marooned for days by floodwaters.

In the hardest-hit province of Songkhla, where 138 people were killed, the government said 85 per cent of water services had been restored and would be fully operational by Dec 3.

Much of Thailand’s recovery effort is focused on the

worst-affected city Hat Yai

, a southern trading hub that on Nov 21 received 335mm of rain, its highest single-day tally in 300 years, followed by days of unrelenting downpours.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has set a timeline of seven days for residents to return to their homes, a government spokesman said on Dec 1.

In neighbouring Malaysia, 11,600 people were still in evacuation centres, according to the country’s disaster agency, which said it was still on alert for a second and third wave of flooding. REUTERS