Sumatrans loot for food after deadly flooding
MEDAN, INDONESIA—Some residents of the flood-hit island of Sumatra resorted to looting, seeking food and water to survive, authorities said on Sunday.
The floods, which hit nearly a week ago, have killed 303 people—with the number expected to rise as more bodies are recovered—and displaced thousands. The deluges triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut off parts of the island and downed communication lines.
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 the district of Central Tapanuli in North Sumatra.
Videos on social media showed looters scrambling past crumbling barricades, flooded roads and broken glass to get their hands on food, medicine and gas. Some even waded through waist-deep floodwaters to reach damaged convenience stores.
North Sumatra Police first reported looting incidents on Saturday evening, said police spokesperson Ferry Walintukan, adding that regional police had been deployed to restore order.
“The looting happened before logistical aid arrived,” he 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 the deepest areas and areas where land access was cut off, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said on Sunday, “but unpredictable weather often hampers aid operations.”
Airdrop
The Cabinet Secretariat released footage of the military airdropping supplies on the affected areas. In the dusty village of North Tapanuli, survivors waved frantically to the helicopters carrying aid. Meanwhile, four navy ships docked at a port to support aid distribution.
Indonesia, home to more than 280 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis due to its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. Seasonal rains also frequently cause flooding and landslides.
Monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province on Tuesday last week.
The deluge tore through the mountainside village, swept away people and submerged more than 2,000 houses and buildings, the National Disaster Management Agency said. Nearly 5,000 residents fled to government shelters.
Seventeen bodies were recovered by Thursday in South Tapanuli district and eight bodies in Sibolga city, North Sumatra provincial police’s spokesperson Ferry Walintukan said in a statement.
In the neighboring district of Central Tapanuli, landslides hit several homes, killing at least a family of four.
Rescue workers also recovered two bodies in Pakpak Bharat district and were searching for five people reported missing in Humbang Hasundutan, another district devastated by landslides that killed two villagers, Walintukan said.
Cloud seeding
At least one resident died when mud and debris struck a main road on a tiny Nias island, he added.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency earlier recommended weather modification to reduce rain and disaster agency chief Suharyanto said cloud seeding would be done to prevent further rainfall and floods.
Cloud seeding involves dispersing particles into clouds to create precipitation, which would be done to redirect rainfall away from areas where search and rescue efforts were continuing.
Television reports showed rescue personnel using jackhammers, circular saws, farm tools and sometimes their bare hands to dig in areas marked by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
