Weather hampers efforts to reach Indonesian flood victims
By Yusof Kalif,WNS Indonesia Correspondent
PAYABEDI - Indonesian rescue teams are trying to reach people still stranded by floods but bad weather was hampering efforts to deliver much-needed food in some areas, officials said. Torrential rains last week triggered flash floods and landslides that have killed around 105 people and forced more than 400,000 to flee their homes on the island of Sumatra, with Aceh and North Sumatra provinces the worst hit. Some 200 people are still missing. Tonnes of food, water, tents and medical supplies have been trucked and flown into the main cities and towns in affected areas. But transporting supplies to stranded villagers who are running short of food is proving difficult.
"We are still concentrating on logistics distribution to difficult access areas, such as Gayo Lues and Bener Meriah," Aceh provincial governor Mustafa Abubakar told AFP from Banda Aceh. "In particular, Pinding village where landslides cut off the main access to the village. We managed twice to reach the place by air, but bad weather is still hampering further deliveries," he said. "People from neighbouring areas tried to bring supplies with horses, since cars still cannot reach the area." Whole villages were swallowed by flood waters at the weekend, with residents escaping to find refuge on higher ground or trapped on the roofs of their houses. More than 400,000 people fled the floods, with some 365,335 people displaced in Aceh alone, according to official figures. The hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Aceh and North Sumatra are being accommodated in government buildings, schools and tents in 22 locations.
Disaster relief officials said they were preparing for outbreaks of disease in the emergency camps. "There are health services in all the refugee camps. We are anticipating cases of diarrhoea, upper respiratory infections and related diseases," Suwarno Amin, relief effort coordinator, told AFP. In the worst-hit area of Aceh Tamiang, water supplies were not sufficient to meet demand, said local Red Cross coordinator Abdul Hayat. "What people need here is clean water for drinking and washing. Every day water tanks come here and people take away water in jerry cans, but it is not enough for everybody," he told AFP. Hayat said he had seen cases of disease and illness but nothing major. "Most people who come to the health service suffer skin diseases, coughs and other minor complaints. I haven't found any diarrhoea cases here," he said.
posted by wnsworld @ 11:14 PM
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