Flood rescue efforts intensify in Indonesia

DW (English)

Indonesia's president is under increasing pressure to declare a national emergency on the island of Sumatra, where floods and landslides have killed at least 836 people. DW joined an aid flight to an isolated area.

Transcript

00:00Approaching the disaster zone in northern Sumatra.

00:05I'm on board an aid helicopter delivering food to isolated villages.

00:10Once we land, these packages will be distributed by motorbike.

00:16Authorities say the situation is bad, but Indonesia has not declared a national emergency.

00:23Do you think it would help if Singapore or other countries come in to help?

00:28I think, yeah, I think it would help because today and after tomorrow,

00:37we need many, many helicopters because many, many areas, big flood and the others.

00:45The scale of destruction is massive.

00:48Supply chains across northern Sumatra have collapsed, raising fears of food shortages and hunger.

00:55The weather forecast is grim, but Indonesian officials, including the Minister of Political and Security Affairs,

01:02who visited on Friday, insist everything is under control.

01:07We haven't found any area that is completely inaccessible.

01:15The way we reach them is by air-dropping food and other supplies.

01:20And soon, hopefully, all routes will open.

01:26We reach the port town of Sibolga in 15 minutes, a trip that would have taken a full day by road from the airport.

01:35The region has always been vulnerable to natural disasters, but not on this scale.

01:41Many here suspect decades of extensive deforestation have compounded the devastation.

01:50Flying over this part of northern Sumatra is really hard to tell what's more shocking,

01:54the destruction and the many landslides you can see or the level of deforestation one can observe.

02:00Investigations into the causes of the disaster are already underway, but for now the priority is helping the victims.

02:09And there are thousands.

02:12Emergency crews say it could take weeks before they will be able to assess the true extent of the disaster.

02:19This is the disaster.

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