Indonesians pick up the pieces after floods ravage Sumatra; death toll hits 442

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: Gazing at the destruction in her flood-hit village in Indonesia, 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, inspecting the damage from days of heavy monsoon rains.

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 Fitriati lives and where nearly 50,000 families have been displaced by flooding and landslides. 

According to a tally published by the national disaster agency on Sunday, the death toll has risen to 442, while more than 640 people were injured. About 400 people are still missing.

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,” Maulidin, a 41-year-old resident of North Aceh, told AFP.

Fitriati was asleep at home when the flooding hit on Wednesday night (Nov 26).

Alerted by the rumbling of water from a nearby river, she woke up her family 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 the mud that almost reached the roof, with cracks all over the walls.

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

“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 anymore. My tears have dried up,” she added.

“We really hope we will get help so that we don’t starve.”

“SECOND TSUNAMI”

In a village in West Sumatra province, where authorities have reported at least 90 deaths, 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’m 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.”

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

But videos have surfaced online of looting, reportedly because some residents did not know when aid would arrive.

News portal Detik reported on Saturday that an Indomaret supermarket in Sibolga, North Sumatra, had been looted. 

The incident was confirmed by Indomaret marketing communications executive director Bastari Akmal, who told Detik that many roads have been buried by landslides, preventing disaster relief from reaching the location. 

Indomaret has not decided whether to pursue legal action, he said, adding “the most important thing is that conditions in the area return to normal soon, and that all forms of assistance arrive promptly”.

“This shows that the climate is no longer predictable, requiring us to strengthen our resilience in protecting nature,” Hanif Faisol said.

He emphasised the need to improve the enforcement of environmental spatial planning and increase efforts to protect, restore and enhance environmental quality, particularly through vegetation measures.

Access and communication in many areas are still cut off.

“The situation in several areas is very critical, with some villages still trapped in floods and inaccessible,” Aceh governor Muzakir Manaf told reporters late Saturday.

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