Survivors in Indonesia express anger at slow government aid as flood death toll rises, with many areas still cut off and supplies running low
TUKKA: Frustration is growing among survivors of catastrophic flooding and landslides in Indonesia over the slow pace of rescue and aid delivery.
Officials in Indonesia and Sri Lanka battled on Wednesday to reach survivors in remote, cut-off regions as the disaster’s toll across four countries topped 1,300.
Humanitarian groups described the scale of the challenge as almost unprecedented for a nation accustomed to natural disasters.
Monsoon rains paired with two rare tropical storm systems dumped record deluges across Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.
Indonesia’s death toll hit 755 on Wednesday, with the number of missing also rising to 650.
The rising figures reflect information only trickling in from regions cut off by flood damage or isolated by electricity and communications failures.
“It’s very challenging logistically to respond,” said Ade Soekadis, executive director of aid group Mercy Corps Indonesia.
He said reports of food and water shortages were already “very concerning” and the situation will become “more problematic as time goes by”.
At an evacuation centre in Padan, 52-year-old Reinaro Waruwu told AFP he was “disappointed” in the government’s immediate response.
“Some waited a day and night before receiving help, so they couldn’t be saved,” he said, surrounded by evacuees in a hall-turned-shelter.
“I am frustrated, it doesn’t need to be said twice. The response was not quick,” he added.
He described the disaster as without precedent, saying “It came like an earthquake.”
Nearby, Hamida Telaumbaunua, 37, described watching her entire kitchen swept away by floodwaters.
“My heart… this was the first time I experienced such a flood,” she said.
The weather system also brought heavy rains to Thailand, killing at least 176 people, and Malaysia, where two people were killed.
A separate system, Cyclone Ditwah, brought torrential rain to much of Sri Lanka last week.
At least 474 people were killed there, with authorities estimating the disaster’s cost at up to USD 7 billion.
Another 356 people are unaccounted for in some of the hardest-hit, inaccessible regions.
On the outskirts of Colombo, R.M.V. Lalith was beginning the clean-up at his two-storey home.
“We managed to salvage some furniture by moving it upstairs, but the kitchen is a mess,” he told AFP.
Despite the disaster, the tourism-reliant country welcomed a luxury cruiseliner to Colombo port on Tuesday.
The arrival sends “a clear message to the world: Sri Lanka is safe, open, and ready to embrace visitors once again”, the country’s tourist board said. – AFP
