AGAM, Indonesia: Improved weather on Saturday helped rescuers on Indonesia’s Sumatra island recover more bodies as they struggled to reach several areas that were hit by landslides and flash floods that left more than 300 dead and scores missing.
Parts of Sumatra, known for its lush rainforests, volcanoes and mountain ranges, were cut off by damaged roads and downed communications lines, and relied on transport aircraft to deliver aid supplies. Rescue efforts were also hampered by a lack of heavy equipment.
Monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside village, swept away people and submerged thousands of houses and buildings in the three provinces of North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh.
The death toll in North Sumatra rose to 166, while 90 people died in West Sumatra. Rescuers also retrieved 47 bodies in Aceh, said Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Management Agency. About 59,660 displaced families fled to temporary government shelters.
Authorities used cloud seeding, which involves dispersing particles into clouds to create precipitation, to redirect rainfall away from the areas where search and rescue efforts were ongoing, said Suharyanto, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.
In the Agam district in West Sumatra province, nearly 80 people were missing in three villages, buried under tons of mud and rocks. There was a desperate need for heavy equipment to reach possible survivors. Relatives wailed as they watched rescuers pull bodies from a buried house in Salareh Aia village.
Images also showed massive piles of logs washed ashore on West Sumatra’s Air Tawar Beach, sparking public concern over possible illegal logging that may have contributed to the disaster.
In Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra, authorities had difficulty deploying tractors and other heavy equipment. Hundreds of police, soldiers and residents dug through the debris with bare hands, shovels and hoes as heavy rain pounded the region.
“The death toll is believed to be increasing, since many bodies are still missing, while many have not been reached,” said Suharyanto, the head of the government’s disaster relief agency, who like many Indonesians only uses one name.
TV reports showed two rescuers battling strong currents in a small rubber boat, moving toward a man clinging to a coconut tree.
“There are many challenges,” Aceh Gov. Muzakir Manaf said after declaring a state of emergency until Dec. 11 to address the disaster. “We have to do many things soon, but conditions do not allow us to do so.”
Local media said that flash floods in Bireuen district in Aceh collapsed nine bridges, paralyze two-way transportation from North Sumatra’s Medan city to Banda Aceh, and forced residents to cross the river from village to village by boat.
It was the latest natural disaster to hit Indonesia, which is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
Seasonal rains frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.