Indonesia’s president tells survivors of last week’s devastating floods that help is arriving for those in need, as Asian governments scale up their responses to a disaster that has left more than 1,000 dead in three countries.
Hundreds more are missing following flooding and landslides in the past week, which killed at least 502 people in Indonesia, 335 in Sri Lanka, and 176 in Thailand, authorities said.
Some areas of Indonesia remain unreachable after the disaster damaged roads and brought down communication lines, with residents in affected areas relying on aircraft to deliver supplies.
Flooding displaced 290,700 people in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Aceh provinces, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said.
Sri Lankan authorities said on Monday that rescuers are still searching for 366 missing people. Nearly 148,000 people are housed in temporary shelters after being battered over the past week by downpours that flooded homes, fields, and roads, and triggered landslides – primarily in the tea-growing central hill country.
Authorities in Thailand worked to clean up streets and restore infrastructure, including water and electricity, in the southern part of the country where severe flooding affected more than 1.4 million households and 3.8 million people, said the government spokesperson Siripong Angkasakulkiat.
The Ministry of Interior will set up public kitchens to provide freshly cooked food for affected residents, he added.