Rescuers are still struggling to reach isolated communities a week after catastrophic floods and landslides tore through South and Southeast Asia, leaving more than 1,500 people dead and nearly 1,000 missing.
The disaster killed at least 837 people in Indonesia, 479 in Sri Lanka, 185 in Thailand, and three in Malaysia, authorities reported on Wednesday, even as rain and flooding triggered by storms continued across the region.
Hundreds of villages remained buried under mud and debris and vast areas were still without electricity or telecommunications.
Indonesia has faced the brunt, with washed-out roads and collapsed bridges leaving many districts in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh provinces inaccessible, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Rescue crews were relying on helicopters, boats and makeshift rafts to reach isolated villages but operations had been slowed by broken transport links and fresh landslide risks.
Concerns about environmental degradation were emerging as well. Residents and emergency workers in Padang said that piles of neatly cut timber were found in the flood debris, prompting fears that illegal logging might have worsened the disaster by weakening hillsides.
“From their shape, it was clear these were not just trees torn out naturally by the flood, but timber that had been deliberately cut,” Neviana, a member of a clean-up crew, told Reuters.
Authorities were still to confirm the source of the logs, but cabinet secretary minister Teddy Indra Wijaya said the government was investigating.
“Beyond extreme weather, environmental degradation has worsened the impact,” the minister said.
Sri Lanka is responding to the disaster under far greater strain than its neighbours as the South Asian nation is still recovering from an economic crisis and faces shortages of fuel, foreign exchange and basic relief supplies.
Prime minister Harini Amarasuriya met foreign diplomats last week to request urgent relief and reconstruction assistance. India, Pakistan and the UAE were among the first countries to heed the call and deliver aid.
On Wednesday, Indian officials confirmed they had sent an additional naval vessel carrying medical teams and supplies for ongoing operations along Sri Lanka’s east coast.
Many parts of the country remained inaccessible on Wednesday, especially in the central highlands where landslides wiped out entire settlements.
Officials say hundreds of people are still missing and that some remote areas can’t be reached yet due to blocked mountain roads.
In Thailand, the government said recovery operations were progressing well. Water and power had been restored in almost all affected areas, mostly in the south of the country, spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek said.
She said more than 1 billion baht (£22m) in compensation had already been disbursed to over 120,000 affected households.
The transport ministry confirmed on Wednesday that sections of the southern railway had reopened after days of disruption, although repairs were still underway on several flood-damaged stretches.
Heavy rain in parts of Indonesia and Sri Lanka is expected to continue through this week, slowing helicopter access and risking further landslides.
(independent)
