Arya News - As of Sunday night, 1,016 people have been found dead, around 7,600 people injured, and over 158,000 houses, as well as 1,200 public infrastructure damaged across 52 regencies, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. At least 212 people are still missing.
JAKARTA/MEDAN – The death toll from the floods that hit northern and western parts of Sumatra late last month has reached more than 1,000 people over the weekend, as regions extended their emergency status and evacuees demanded the government to do more in its relief efforts.
Three weeks have gone by since cyclone-induced floods and landslides hit Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, devastating regencies across the three provinces and leaving destruction in their wake.
As of Sunday night, 1,016 people have been found dead, around 7,600 people injured and over 158,000 houses as well as 1,200 public infrastructure damaged across 52 regencies, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). At least 212 people are still missing.
“Over the past week, the death toll has increased by 66 people: 33 from Aceh, 19 from North Sumatra and 14 from West Sumatra,” BNPB spokesperson Abdul Muhari told a press conference on Sunday.
Dozens of villages across two regencies in Aceh remain isolated, though North Sumatra and West Sumatra see fewer isolated regencies.
“This is due to land access still being cut off […] but logistical support is still being optimized via air,” Abdul said, adding that the central government has delivered over 383 tonnes of aid last week.
The consistent rise of fatalities has led West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh to extend their emergency status to Dec. 22, 24 and 25, respectively, so they can scale up aid deliveries to affected regions, some of which remain isolated.
“The objective [is] to ensure optimal handling of the disaster response and to accelerate recovery for infrastructure and assistance for affected communities,” West Sumatra Governor Mahyeldi Ansharullah wrote on Instagram on Dec. 8.
Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf said on Wednesday the emergency status was needed for the region’s “infrastructure rehabilitation” as work was still underway to fix affected bridges in the province, Antara reported.
‘Only humans’
President Prabowo Subianto paid a visit to some of the worst-hit regencies in Aceh and North Sumatra on Friday and Saturday, where he acknowledged the central government’s slow disaster response in several regions.
“I apologize if some [basic needs] have not yet been met. We are working hard,” Prabowo said during his visit to an evacuation post in Aceh Tamiang regency on Friday.
“Perhaps, the electricity [here] is not back on yet, and the situation on the ground is very difficult. We will overcome this together,” he added.
Prabowo said that the central government was “only humans” and that he himself did “not have the staff of Moses” to swiftly restore things to normal.
“However, we will [expedite the mitigation process] as quickly as possible,” he said.
The visit took place shortly after the President returned from his two-country visit to Pakistan and Russia last week, in which he discussed regional and global cooperation with each country’s heads of state. It was Prabowo’s third visit to a disaster-hit region in Sumatra in the past three weeks.
Growing frustration
Evacuees packing emergency shelters in Aceh have continued calling for the central government to bolster its relief efforts after the disaster has dragged on for weeks.
Rio Rahmat, an evacuee in Aceh Tamiang, urged Prabowo and his administration not to make “too many empty promises”, noting the dire condition he faced in the emergency shelter.
“We don’t need promises; we want real action. We are tired of being lied to, and we want to get back to our normal condition quickly,” Rio told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Rio cited a statement made by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, who previously claimed that 93 percent of the electricity in Aceh had been restored. Rio noted that electricity and telecommunications networks were still down in his shelter.
Rio also said there has been a clean water crisis, in which people had to pay Rp 50,000 (US$3) per drum for clean water.
Raodah, a survivor taking refuge at the Al Abrar Mosque complex in Central Aceh, said she and her family still struggle with electricity and clean water at the mosque.
“We are now living with very limited resources. Our homes and belongings have been swept away by the disaster,” she told Prabowo during his visit on Friday.
Prabowo said that he had planned and allocated budget for temporary housing and subsequent permanent housing for the disaster victims.