Troops, volunteers in bid to rescue Indonesian flood victims

By AFP

Indonesia - Indonesian troops and volunteer rescue workers have been attempting to evacuate thousands of people trapped by flash floods which have killed at least 62 and forced more than 140,000 to flee their homes on the island of Sumatra.

The tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra was the worst-hit, with 60 dead in one district alone as the region prepared to mark the second anniversary of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean catastrophe.

Whole villages have been swallowed by flood waters following a week of torrential rains.

Only house roofs and the minarets of mosques showed above the muddy brown waters in the worst-hit district of Aceh Tamiyang in aerial photographs taken by the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency.

Villagers were shown sheltering on higher ground surrounded by flood waters, with some people floating precariously on logs.

"We are now concentrating on evacuating people who are trapped in their homes in the town of Kuala Simpang in Aceh Tamiyang district," Ghufran Zainal Abidin, the local chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party, told AFP from the worst-affected area.

"I wasn't able to enter Kuala Simpang yesterday (Sunday), the current was very strong and only rubber dinghies can get through, which is making evacuation efforts difficult," he said.

"We have not received any more reports of dead victims as we are concentrating on saving the ones that are trapped in flooded spots," said Abidin who reported 60 dead in Aceh Tamiyang district Sunday.

Around 1,000 troops have been dispatched to Aceh and neighbouring North Sumatra along with heavy equipment and helicopters, Commodore Mohammad Sunarto Sjoekronoputro said, according to the official Antara news agency.

Two Hercules transport aircraft were to due to carry tents, field kitchens and inflatable boats to the affected region Monday, it said.

In North Aceh, "two people were killed, four are still missing and more than 140,000 people fled their homes," North Aceh deputy district head Nasrullah told AFP.

"We need food, clothes and tents for the displaced people," he said.

"Water has receded in some places, but it's flowed to lower areas and flooded more villages," he said.

Six of 17 districts in Aceh were affected by the floods, with Aceh Tamiyang on the border with North Sumatra province being the worst hit.

In hard-hit Langkat district of North Sumatra, rescue workers struggled to reach those in need, with waters still nearly a metre high (three feet) in some places.

Rampant illegal logging in Gunung Leuser National Park is one cause of the heavy flooding in North Sumatra and Aceh.

Illegal logging in the national park was also blamed for flash floods in North Sumatra in 2003, which killed hundreds of people.

The government has blamed destruction of the country's forests for floods and landslides and pledged four trillion rupiah (440 million dollars) annually beginning next year to replant them.

Last June, floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains killed more than 200 people in South Sulawesi province. Separate floods killed more than 20 people and forced 40,000 people from their homes in Borneo in the same month.
-- The Associated Press

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