Floods And Landslides Kill Hundreds Across Sumatra And Wider Asia (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

MEDAN, INDONESIA (Worthy News) – Indonesian Christian volunteers are rushing aid to residents who say the government has been slow to help after floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island killed at least hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

In Indonesia, nearby Malaysia, and Thailand, the death toll mounted to over 600 from disasters caused by torrential rains across the three nations, officials said.

Most victims were in Indonesia, with its National Disaster Management Agency saying Sunday “that 442 people” died so far, adding that 402 people are still missing.

Additionally, about 290,000 have been left homeless in Sumatra’s provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, officials announced.

Further away in South Asia, Sri Lanka’s authorities said over 300 people died from Cyclone Ditwah on Sunday, as floodwaters breached a dam and rescue operations continued into a fourth day.

MASS DISPLACEMENT ACROSS SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

Nearly a million people were impacted by heavy rains and floods that swept through large parts of the South Asian island nation, forcing almost 200,000 people into 1,275 shelters, the Disaster Management Centre said in a statement.

Yet the misery across Asia has impacted Indonesia especially, where almost a week of incessant rainfall led to flash floods and massive landslides affecting over a million people, according to authorities.

Entire regions are cut off from the outside world here, Christians told Worthy News.

To survive, residents in the affected areas of North Sumatra were forced to scavenge food and drinking water from supermarkets.

Relief supplies were making slow progress due to weather conditions and destroyed roads.

AID SLOW AS COMMUNITIES STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE

Some of the worst-affected areas can only be reached by air or sea, said Suharyanto, head of the disaster management agency, at a press conference on Sunday. “We have airdropped food and relief supplies and dispatched soldiers,” he said.

However, church worker Viktoria, whose church and school for impoverished children in the city of Medan were also flooded, lashed out at the government of this heavily Muslim nation.

“The people near my home are so poor. They have had no food to eat for days already, and no clothes because of the flooding. Yet the government is so late, and there is no good distribution of aid,” she told Worthy News.

“I and my Christian friends visit them. I cook food and cake for them,” added Viktoria, who is also an entrepreneur running a small food business. “So sad, they only eat one noodle portion a day,” she said.

Video footage sent to Worthy News showed a sea of people lying in the dark near a railway line, waiting for attention from authorities who had promised aid. Viktoria, who has also been hosting house churches and is involved in evangelism, said she had tried to share the “hope of the Lord Jesus Christ” with villagers and residents of Medan.

COMMUNICATIONS DOWN, FEARS RISING

She uses only the name Viktoria due to security concerns in a hostile Muslim area.

Some of her friends lost one or more loved ones in the flooding. “They cannot reach them as mobile networks are down too in several areas,” Viktoria told Worthy News.

Asked what she needs most, she said: “Prayers. Please pray for us.”

Viktoria and police spokesperson Ferry Walintukan said there were reports of people breaking into shops on Sumatra. “The looting happened before logistical aid arrived,” Walintukan added. “Residents didn’t know that aid would come and were worried they would starve.”

However, Viktoria said some had been able to use satellite service Starlink to communicate, though that remains prohibitively expensive for most people. Yet its owner, tech billionaire Elon Musk, said he would provide “free Starlink services” to support communications during the emergency.

REGIONAL DEVASTATION AND POLITICAL UNREST

It came amid widespread devastation across the region. At least 170 people died in floods in Thailand, and several deaths were reported in Malaysia, authorities said.

In Sri Lanka, more than 330 people died from floods and mudslides as the country grappled with one of its worst weather disasters in years, according to authorities there.

While the torrential rains have now subsided, low-lying areas of the capital, Colombo, are still flooded, and many areas in the center of the country reportedly remain cut off.

As in Indonesia, there is growing dissatisfaction with governments’ perceived unwillingness to provide adequate assistance.

In the Philippines, tens of thousands of people joined protests “against government corruption” on Sunday, for the second time this month, following a series of disastrous floods that killed more than 200 people there.

PHILIPPINE LEADER UNDER PRESSURE AMID CORRUPTION CLAIMS

An effigy of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. could be seen at Sunday’s protests in Manila.

The government has acknowledged that substantial funds intended to finance flood control “have been lost” due to corruption.

Public anger over the issue now threatens the administration of President Marcos Jr., observers say.

There were two large protests in the capital, Manila, one organized by the Roman Catholic Church and the other by unions, students, and left-wing activists.

Their complaint is the same – that money designated by the central government for flood defenses was diverted into the pockets of corrupt politicians, leaving communities dangerously exposed to this year’s exceptionally heavy rainfall.

GOVERNMENT SHAKE-UPS AS ALLEGATIONS WIDEN

But determining who is responsible is proving harder. Marcos Jr. has sacked several politicians and officials he blames for stealing flood funds.

However, one of those politicians, who is now in hiding, has accused the president himself of supervising the corruption — charges Marcos Jr. dismissed as propaganda.

His own sister, Senator Imee Marcos, has now joined the opposition to him, and Vice President Sara Duterte, a bitter rival of the president, says she is ready to take over should he be forced to resign. However, she too faces different corruption allegations.

Commentators noted that the president “will be mindful that two of his predecessors, including his father,” were ousted by popular protest movements stirred up in part by corruption allegations.

His presidency now depends on whether the protests continue in the coming weeks and whether any more of the president’s allies desert him.

Back in Indonesia, similar questions have been raised, as leaders throughout Asia face growing pressure to explain their actions amid mounting misery.

(With original reporting from Indonesia, and reports from Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.)

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