MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Some residents of the flood-hit Indonesian island of Sumatra have resorted to stealing food and water to survive, authorities said Sunday, while Sri Lankan officials said deaths from floods and mudslides in that island nation have risen to 193.
The floods, which hit Indonesia nearly a week ago, have killed 442 people — with the number expected to rise as more bodies are recovered — and displaced 290,700 people as nearly 3,000 houses damaged, including 827 that were flattened or swept out by floods.
The deluges triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut off parts of the island, and downed communication lines, prompting officials and limited communities using Starlink satellite internet for relief operations.
Another 402 people are missing in Indonesia's three provinces of North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.
The challenging weather conditions and the lack of heavy equipment also hampered rescue efforts. Aid has been slow to reach the hardest-hit city of Sibolga and Central Tapanuli district in North Sumatra.
Videos on social media showed people scrambling past crumbling barricades, flooded roads and broken glass to get their hands on food, medicine and gas. Some waded through waist-deep floodwaters to reach damaged convenience stores.
The spokesperson for the police, Ferry Walintukan, said they received reports of people breaking into shops on Saturday evening, and that regional police had been deployed to restore order.
“The looting happened before logistical aid arrived,” Walintukan said. “(Residents) didn’t know that aid would come and were worried they would starve.”
Eleven helicopters were deployed from Jakarta to the affected areas the day after the disaster for ongoing logistics distribution operations, especially to areas where land access was cut off, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, said on Sunday, “but unpredictable weather often hampers aid operations.”
The Cabinet Secretariat released footage of the military airdropping supplies to the affected areas. In the village of North Tapanuli, survivors waved frantically to the helicopters carrying aid. Meanwhile, four navy ships docked at a port to support aid distribution.
Satellite internet service Starlink on Saturday wrote on X that it would provide free service through the end of December for those affected by floods in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Authorities in Sri Lanka said the death toll there from floods and mudslides has risen to 193, with 228 others still missing.
Nearly 148,000 people have been displaced from their homes and are housed in temporary shelters.
Sri Lanka has been battered by severe weather since last week. Conditions worsened Thursday, with heavy downpours that flooded homes, fields and roads and triggered landslides mainly in the tea-growing central hill country.