Floods and landslides across Asia have killed over 1,000 people, with Sri Lanka and Indonesia deploying military assets for rescue and relief operations
PADANG: The death toll from catastrophic flooding and landslides across parts of Asia has surpassed 1,000.
Hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia have deployed military personnel to assist survivors as separate weather systems brought torrential rainfall to the region last week.
Relentless rains left residents clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat or helicopter, cutting entire villages off from assistance.
Arriving in North Sumatra on Monday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said “the worst has passed, hopefully”.
The government’s priority is now to immediately send necessary aid, with a focus on several cut-off areas, he added.
Prabowo faces increasing pressure to declare a national emergency in response to flooding and landslides that have killed at least 502 people, with more than 500 still missing.
Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has not publicly called for international assistance.
This toll is the deadliest natural disaster in Indonesia since a 2018 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.
The government has sent three warships carrying aid and two hospital ships to some of the worst-hit areas, where many roads remain impassable.
At an evacuation centre in North Aceh, 28-year-old Misbahul Munir described walking through neck-high water to reach his parents.
“Everything in the house was destroyed because it was submerged,” he told AFP.
“I have only the clothes I am wearing,” he said, dissolving into tears.
In Sri Lanka, the government has called for international aid and used military helicopters to reach people stranded by Cyclone Ditwah.
At least 340 people have been killed, with many more still missing, officials said on Monday.
Floodwaters in the capital Colombo peaked overnight, raising hopes that waters would begin receding as the rain stopped.
Some shops and offices began to reopen.
Officials said the extent of damage in the worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads.
In Ma Oya, north of the capital, Hasitha Wijewardena said he was struggling to clean up after the floods.
“The water has gone down, but the house is now full of mud,” he told local reporters, appealing for military help.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency, vowed to rebuild.
“We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” he said in an address to the nation.
“Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before.”
The losses are the worst in Sri Lanka since the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami.
By Sunday afternoon, rain had subsided across Sri Lanka but low-lying areas of the capital were flooded.
Military helicopters have been deployed to airlift stranded residents and deliver food, though one crashed just north of Colombo on Sunday evening.
Much of Asia is in its annual monsoon season, which often triggers landslides and flash floods.
The flooding was exacerbated by a rare tropical storm that dumped heavy rain on Sumatra island in particular.
Climate change has increased the intensity of storms, producing more heavy rain events.
The waves of rain caused flooding that killed at least 176 people in southern Thailand, authorities said Monday.
The government has rolled out relief measures, but there has been growing public criticism of the flood response.
Two local officials have been suspended over their alleged failures.
Across the border in Malaysia, heavy rains inundated large stretches of land in Perlis state, killing two people. – AFP
