Death Toll from Indonesian Floods Reaches 124

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA)
Wednesday, 3 January, 2007

By IANS

Jakarta: The death toll from flash floods and landslides in Indonesia's Aceh and North Sumatra provinces has risen to 124 as search teams continued to find bodies among the wreckage, officials said Tuesday.

At least 170 others remained missing and were feared dead, while over 400,000 residents were displaced in the Dec 22 disaster that also affected parts of Malaysia.

Relief workers finally reached communities cut off after roads and bridges were washed away, using helicopters to drop emergency supplies, officials said.

'We delivered all the aid needed by survivors and refugees by land and helicopter,' said Suwarno, an Aceh province government official.

In Aceh, at least 76 people were killed and 163 remained missing after raging water, as high as rooftops in many areas, swept through eastern and northern villages in the province.

'In general, the refugees are still in a poor condition because now various diseases are attacking them, such as respiratory problems,' Iqbal, a relief worker with the Indonesian Red Cross, said from Tamiang district in Aceh province.

'Fifty people were killed just in Tamiang district,' he said, adding that 17,000 people were in refugee camps there.

In neighbouring North Sumatra province, 33 people were killed in a landslide and 15 others died in flash floods, said Edy Sofyan, a local government spokesperson. At least seven people remained missing after the landslide.

Sofyan said over 44,000 residents of the province were forced to flee their homes.

'Aid has gone to those who need it, and at the time being we are preparing emergency temporary schools for students who are to come back from (end-of-year) vacations,' Sofyan added.

Authorities have blamed heavy rains as well as the effects of deforestation for the destruction. Lack of adequate forest cover leaves the ground less able to absorb excess water, putting local communities in danger.

Each year in Indonesia, tens of thousands of people are forced to flee their homes during the rainy reason and move into temporary shelters because of flooding.