Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (known by its acronym BNPB) reported 961 confirmed deaths, 234 missing persons, roughly 5,000 injuries, and almost a million displaced persons from weeks of flooding and landslides in Sumatra.
According to a report delivered by BNPB to President Prabowo Subianto, there are currently 975,075 people living in temporary shelters due to the storms, most of them from Sumatra’s northwestern province of Aceh.
Flooding and landslides damaged over 156,000 homes, according to BNPB. Much of the damage was caused by thick pools of mud and clumps of debris swept along by flood waters, a situation that has led to a troubling uptick in diseases such as diarrhoea, myalgia, and various fevers.
To make matters worse, many of Sumatra’s hospitals and clinics were severely damaged or rendered unsanitary. Employees of the Aceh Tamiang hospital told Reuters on Sunday that “medical equipment was covered in mud, syringes were scattered on the floor, and floods swept medicines away.”
Rising flood waters also wiped out ventilators at the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, causing at least one child fatality.
“This is an extraordinary disaster. Everything is destroyed,” said a forlorn nurse.
The Indonesian Health Ministry said on Tuesday it would prioritize repairing damaged hospitals in Aceh and bringing in doctors and interns from across the country to make up for staff shortages.
“Doctors have been deployed across the three provinces to treat common post-flood illnesses, including skin infections, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections,” said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.
Sadikin said he has asked the Defense Ministry to send about 300 military doctors to support the effort. Meanwhile, a group of trained elephants was brought in to help clear debris from the roads in the Aceh district of Pidie Jaya.
Senior government officials said on Monday that the cost of rebuilding in Sumatra will exceed $3.11 billion, and the estimate could increase substantially as more damage is uncovered. The national government is building a large number of 430-square foot plywood temporary houses to accommodate displaced persons while reconstruction begins.
Many Indonesians are unsatisfied with their government’s response to the floods. Deputy Home Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto on Sunday announced that special inspectors have been dispatched to “monitor the performance of regional leaders.” Sanctions could be leveled against local officials found guilty of “administrative violations, procedural lapses, or inadequate performance.”
Public outrage erupted last week when South Aceh Regent Mirwan MS abandoned his post during the disaster to fly to Saudi Arabia so he could perform the Muslim hajj pilgrimage. Mirwan’s travel agency touched off a firestorm by posting photos of the regent touring Saudi Arabia while his constituents were battling floods and landslides.
The governor of Aceh, Muzakir Manaf, said Mirwan requested time off for his pilgrimage in November, but the request was denied in writing. Mirwan’s office insisted he did not depart for Saudi Arabia until he was certain “conditions in South Aceh in general had improved.”
The Indonesian government also plans to summon eight land development companies to answer questions about their possible role in exacerbating the disaster with heavy logging and mining activities. Indonesian environmentalists believe deforestation made the floods and landslides worse, but they also accuse the government of hypocrisy for focusing on logging companies, when it was government officials who granted the permits for their logging, mining, and palm oil plantations. Illegal mining and lumber operations also contributed to the problem.
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