The death toll from floods and landslides on Indonesia's Sumatra island has risen to 708, with 504 people still missing, according to the country's disaster agency. The figure marks a sharp increase from the 604 deaths reported on Monday.
Heavy monsoon rains and tropical cyclones have battered parts of Asia this week, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka and southern Thailand, killing more than 1,300 people across the region. In Indonesia alone, about 3.2 million people have been affected, 2,600 injured and one million evacuated from high-risk areas.
Aid workers are racing to reach survivors but are hampered by blocked roads and broken bridges. Some areas, including Tapanuli Tengah in North Sumatra and Agam in Aceh, remain inaccessible by road, according to Unicef. In Aceh, one of the hardest-hit areas, markets are running out of rice, vegetables and other essentials, with prices tripling, Islamic Relief reported. The charity is sending 12 tonnes of emergency food aid, warning that communities face severe food shortages if supply lines are not restored within seven days.
The Indonesian government said on Monday it was sending 34,000 tonnes of rice and 6.8 million litres of cooking oil to Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. The World Health Organization is deploying rapid response teams and critical supplies, and strengthening disease surveillance. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the disaster as 'another reminder of how climate change is driving more frequent and more extreme weather events'.
Survivors described how powerful currents of water arrived rapidly and submerged villages. 'We didn't think we would survive that night because the situation was so chaotic,' said Gahitsa Zahira Cahyani, 17, a student at an Islamic boarding school. Hundreds of students fled to safety, some clinging to trees and the mosque's roof. The season's monsoons often bring heavy rains, but this year's downpours were compounded by a rare tropical storm in the Malacca Strait, devastating parts of Sumatra and southern Thailand, where 181 people died.
Sri Lanka has also faced catastrophic flooding and landslides caused by a separate storm, Cyclone Ditwah, killing 410 people, with 336 still missing. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency, calling it the 'most challenging natural disaster in our history'. Rains have eased, but landslide alerts remain in force across most of the hardest-hit central region.
