Survivors plead for urgent aid after catastrophic floods and landslides killed over 1,500 in Asia

ACEH TAMIANG, Indonesia (AP) – Emergency crews raced against time on Friday after last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides that struck parts of Asia, killing more than 1,500 people. Relief operations were underway, but the scale of need overwhelmed the capabilities of rescuers.

Authorities said 883 people were confirmed dead in Indonesia, 486 in Sri Lanka and 185 in Thailand, as well as three in Malaysia.

Many villages in Indonesia and Sri Lanka remained buried under mud and debris, with nearly 900 people still unaccounted for in both countries, while recovery was further along in Thailand and Malaysia.

As the waters recede, survivors find the disaster has crippled their villages’ lifelines. Roads that once connected the cities and districts to the outside world are severed, leaving some areas accessible only by helicopter. Transmission towers collapsed under the weight of landslides, plunging communities into darkness and causing internet outages.

In Aceh Tamiang, the hardest-hit area in Aceh province, infrastructure is in ruins. Entire villages in the lush hills district lie submerged beneath a thick blanket of mud. More than 260,000 residents fled homes once on green farmland. For many, survival hinges on the speed of aid as clean water, sanitation and shelter top the list of urgent priorities.

Trucks carrying relief supplies crawl along roads connecting North Sumatra’s Medan city to Aceh Tamiang, which reopened almost a week after the disaster, but distribution is slowed by debris on the roads, said the National Disaster Management Agency’s spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

An Associated Press photojournalist described widespread devastation in Aceh Tamiang after flash floods tore through the area, with cars overturned and homes badly damaged. Animal carcasses are scattered among the debris. Many residents are still haunted by the 2004 tsunami that devastated Aceh and killed around 230,000 people globally, with 160,000 in Aceh alone.

On a battered bridge spanning the swollen Tamiang River, families found shelter under makeshift tents of bed sheets and torn fabric.

A survivor there, Ibrahim bin Usman, cradled his grandsons on the muddy ground where his home once stood. He recounted how floodwaters full of logs hit his house and the houses of his children and his siblings, forcing his family of 21, including babies, to cling to the roof of a warehouse before being evacuated by a small wooden boat by fellow villagers.

“Six houses in my family were swept away,” he said. “This wasn’t a flood – it was a tsunami from the hills. Many bodies are still buried under mud.”

With wells contaminated and pipes shattered, the floodwaters have turned necessities into luxuries.

Resident Mariana, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians, broke down in tears when recalling how she survived as water surged into her village on Nov. 27. “The water kept rising, forcing us to flee. Even at higher ground, it didn’t stop. We panicked.”

The 53-year-old widow said she and others eventually reached a two-story school, but survival was grim: there was no food or clean water. “We drank floodwaters after letting it settle and boiling it. Children drank it too,” said Mariana, whose home was flattened.

A clothing trader in the village of Kampung Dalam, Joko Sofyan, said residents had no choice but to drink the same water that destroyed their homes as they waited for aid, causing children to fall ill.

“My house is just rubble now,” said Sofyan, a father of two. “We need food, medicine, and clean water urgently.”

While some relief has trickled in, survivors say they need household equipment to cook food.

Frustration is mounting: “Why isn’t there a public kitchen? We have nothing left,” shouted Hadi Akher to the crowd as rescue workers struggled to maintain order among long lines of hungry villagers near a truck full of aid supplies.

Akher, who was bare-chested like most men in flood-hit areas due to lack of clothing, blamed deforestation for worsening the disaster, accusing local officials of corruption.

“This deadly floods happened because too many officials here are corrupt,” he said, causing the crowd to grumble.

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Karmini reported from Jakarta. Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed reporting.