Indonesia is struggling to contain the humanitarian crisis unfolding across remote parts of Sumatra, where catastrophic floods and severe food shortages continue to threaten isolated communities.
Tropical storms and monsoon rains have battered Southeast and South Asia for days, triggering landslides and flash floods from Sumatra’s dense rainforests to Sri Lanka’s highland estates.
Across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, natural disasters have claimed more than 1,770 lives since last week.On Saturday, Indonesia’s national weather agency warned that more heavy rain could hit Aceh and North Sumatra, where roads have been washed away, homes buried under thick mud, and entire areas cut off from essential supplies.
Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf said rescue teams were still pulling bodies from “waist-deep” mud and that hunger now posed one of the most urgent threats in remote areas.“Many people urgently need basic necessities. Several regions in Aceh remain completely inaccessible,” he said. “People are no longer dying from the floods, but from starvation.”Manaf said whole villages in Aceh Tamiang had been swept away.“The entire Aceh Tamiang region is devastated — from the highlands to the coast.
Many villages and sub-districts now exist only in name,” he said.Residents expressed growing frustration with the government’s refusal to declare a national disaster, a move that would unlock more resources and streamline the emergency response.
Munawar Liza Zainal, an Aceh resident, said he felt “betrayed” by the authorities. “This is an extraordinary disaster that demands extraordinary measures. If national disaster status is declared too late, it becomes meaningless.”Analysts say the government may be hesitant to seek international assistance because it could be seen as an admission that it cannot manage the crisis. Officials, however, maintain that Indonesia is capable of handling the unfolding disaster.
