SURVIVORS in the country are piecing back shattered lives after devastating floods killed more than 1,500 people across four countries, with fears of fresh misery as more rain looms.
Indonesia has borne the brunt, with its toll rising to at least 837 dead and 545 missing, authorities said yesterday, many in Sumatra’s northern Aceh province where more than 800,000 people have been displaced.
Sri Lanka has reported at least 486 deaths, Thailand, 276 and Malaysia, two.
Many survivors in Sumatra are counting the cost of the deluge that started last week, leading to destructive flash-flooding and landslides.
“Our house was covered by soil up to the ceiling,” said Rumita Laurasibuea. “Around the house, there were piles of wood.”
The 42-year-old government employee, now sheltering in a school, said recovering from the flood’s impact “could take more than a year”.
“This is a calamity we must face,” added Hendra Vramenia, 37, who fled his village of Kampung Dalam in southeastern Aceh.
“Possessions can be regained,” he noted, saying he remained worried that people in remote areas risk starvation.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned that Aceh could see “very heavy rain” through today, with North and West Sumatra also at risk.
Indonesian flood victims said fresh rain is likely to bring fresh misery.
“We are still worried... If the rain comes again, where can we go? Where can we evacuate?” asked Rumita.
In Sri Lanka, authorities said floodwaters had begun to recede, but residents face a mammoth clean-up.
In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear the mud and water damage.
“We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri said at the Gate Jumma Mosque.
“It takes 10 men an entire day to clean one house,” said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas.
“No one can do this without help.”
Two separate weather systems dumped massive rainfall on all of Sri Lanka, Sumatra, parts of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.
While across Asia, seasonal monsoons bring rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly across the region.
But environmentalists and Indonesia’s government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flash flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages and stranded residents of rooftops. — AFP
