Rescue teams in western Asia struggled this Monday to clear roads cut off by landslides and floods caused by a cyclone, while the improvement in the weather made it possible to better see the magnitude of a disaster whose victims have already exceeded a thousand dead in Southeast Asia.
after a rare tropical storm formed in the Strait of Malacca and unleashed torrential rain and gusty winds for a week that complicated efforts to reach people trapped by mudslides and floodwaters. In Sri Lanka, Cyclone Ditwah, packing strong winds and heavy rain, caused the worst flooding in a decade when it hit the country on Friday, triggering landslides in the central mountainous area.
At least 176 people have died in Thailand and three in Malaysia, while the death toll in Indonesia rose to 502 on Monday, with 508 missing, according to official figures. In Sri Lanka the death toll rose to 355, with 366 missing.
In Indonesia, more than 28,000 homes damaged
Under a bright sun and a clear blue sky in the town of Palembayan, in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra, hundreds of people removed mud, trees and debris from the roads, while some residents tried to rescue documents, motorcycles and other valuables from their damaged homes.
Workers were checking piles of twisted poles, concrete blocks and metal sheets, while trucks full of people toured the area in search of missing relatives and distributed water to people wading through knee-deep mud.
The Government’s recovery efforts include the restoration of roads, bridges and telecommunications services. More than 28,000 homes have been damaged in Indonesia and 1.4 million people have been affected, according to the disaster management agency.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visited the three rain-hit provinces on Monday and praised the residents for their spirit. “We face this disaster with resilience and solidarity. Our nation is strong right now, capable of overcoming this,” he said.
The devastation comes after months of adverse and deadly weather in Southeast Asia, including typhoons that have hit 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.
In Thailand, three million affected
In Thailand, the death toll rose slightly to 176 on Monday (compared to 162 on Sunday) due to flooding in eight southern provinces, affecting some three million people and prompting a large mobilization of the army to evacuate critical patients from hospitals and reach people isolated for days.
In the hardest hit province, Songkhla, where 138 people died, the Government reported that 85% of the water service had already been restored and would be fully operational on Wednesday.
Much of the recovery effort in Thailand is focused on the most damaged city, Hat Yai, a southern commercial township that received 335 millimeters of rain on Nov. 21 — its highest daily record in 300 years — followed by days of relentless rainfall.
The Prime Minister of this country of 71.6 million inhabitants, Anutin Charnvirakul, has set a deadline of seven days for residents to return to their homes, a government spokesman said on Monday.
In neighboring Malaysia, 11,600 people remained in evacuation centers, according to the national disaster agency, which said it remains on alert for a second and third wave of floods.
Sri Lanka schools still closed
Rescue teams scrambled on Monday to clear roads and deliver aid to more than half a million people affected by a cyclone last week, as the death toll rose to 355, with 366 missing, according to official figures.
Officials reported that train services and flights had resumed after disruptions last week, although schools remained closed.
In a statement, meteorological authorities stated: “It is very likely that (the storm) will move north, away from the island, and weaken further.”
It is the first time that the entire country, of 23 million inhabitants, has been affected by a natural disaster of such magnitude, declared the president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, on Sunday, calling it the “largest and most challenging” in the history of Sri Lanka.
