As of last Friday, two-thirds of the Aceh region remained without electricity, while local media warned of delays or lack of help in some shelters.
Indonesian authorities announced on Saturday that the total number of deaths confirmed by floods on the island of Sumatra (west) has risen to 1,006, while rescue teams are still searching for 217 missing people in areas devastated by landslides and infrastructure collapse.
Indonesia’s disaster management agency, BNPB, says around 5,400 people have been injured, some seriously, in the three provinces that have been devastated by the storm since late November: North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh, the only province in the archipelago that applies Islamic law (sharia).
Over the past week, those numbers have risen more slowly, after the number of injuries and deaths rose quickly early on as emergency teams dealt for days with swollen rivers, strong winds and heavy rain.
As of last Friday, two-thirds of the Aceh region remained without electricity, while the local press warned about the delay or lack of help in some shelters, where the government holds more than 200,000 people.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visited Sumatra the day before and promised that the government will help the more than three million people affected by the bad weather, especially the thousands of families who lost their homes.
“The government will continue to help everyone. I apologize if some areas have not yet received help. We are working hard,” said Prabowo during a visit to the affected areas, quoted by the public agency “Antara”.
In addition, BNPB announced that it will create integrated shelters that will include, in the same location, cafeterias, health services, sanitary facilities, educational options for children and support services for psychosocial and trauma recovery.
The storm, driven by the presence of a typhoon in the Strait of Malacca, affected around 3.5 million people on this island, where around 600 schools, 400 temples, 200 health centers and more than a hundred bridges were destroyed.
The government of ex-military Prabowo insists on its ability to resolve the emergency and opposes the proposal by several NGOs to ask for international help to intensify attention to the damage and victims in Sumatra.
In addition to Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, serious flooding has also been recorded in recent weeks in Thailand, with at least 276 deaths, and in Sri Lanka, where the total number of confirmed deaths is 640, with 211 missing.
*EFE
