Indonesia, Sumatra devastated by flood: over 630 dead and hundreds missing

A catastrophe. The death toll from the floods and landslides that hit the Sumatra region in Indonesia is staggering: the count has risen to 631 dead as rescuers search for another 472 people still missing in the mud and debris. One million people have been displaced. The data was released by the disaster agency, according to AFP reports. Government agencies and humanitarian organizations are rushing to provide aid to those affected. An entire part of the territory has been devastated, as seen from satellite image comparisons.
The wave of devastating floods and landslides, mostly linked to the seasonal monsoon phenomenon and a rare tropical storm, has also ravaged large areas of Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia. Overall, the death toll is estimated to exceed 1,100. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), what is happening is ‘another reminder of how climate change is causing increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, with disastrous effects,’ observed WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from Geneva. WHO is deploying rapid response teams on the ground and distributing essential supplies.
In Sri Lanka, where at least 390 have died and a similar number are missing, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency, calling the floods on the island, linked to cyclone Ditwah, ‘the most challenging natural disaster in its history.’ Several areas of the capital Colombo were also affected, with about 200,000 people being housed in emergency shelters. The government has issued an international appeal for aid and has deployed military helicopters to rescue people stranded in flood-affected areas, as reported by AFP.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has visited various locations in Sumatra to ‘personally assess the management’ of the disaster. ‘The worst should be over,’ Subianto said, explaining that meteorological forecasts indicate a possible improvement.