Name: Indonesia floods: Shortages create challenges for recovery effort
Uploaded: 2025-12-10T00:45:37.635Z
Duration: 2 min 31 s
Description: Indonesia faces mounting challenges after catastrophic floods – Disease risks rise and essential supplies run short as recovery stalls.

Indonesia faces mounting challenges after catastrophic floods – Disease risks rise and essential supplies run short as recovery stalls.

Aceh

Flooding and landslides, triggered by a cyclone and worsened by deforestation, have devastated Aceh Tamyang and other provinces on Sumatra, Indonesia. Many residents are displaced, sleeping outdoors with limited shelter, and report the destruction of homes and businesses. 

Authorities highlight ongoing shortages of food, heavy equipment, and medical supplies, while disease spreads among displaced populations due to inadequate clean water. The local hospital was severely damaged, resulting in patient deaths during a power outage, and restoration efforts are now focused on reestablishing emergency medical services.

Indonesia floods: Shortages create challenges for recovery effort

In Aceh Tamyang, these people say they've been staying on this road for days after their villagers were destroyed in flash floods. Sleeping on wet cardboard with only a few plastic sheets to protect them from the rain. My house was destroyed. There's nothing I could take from it because the mud was so high. I had a shop but everything in it was destroyed too. Aceh Tamyang was cut off for days. Now with roads into the region open again, some aid is coming in. But authorities here say there still isn't enough. We need heavy equipment. Even though food aid has arrived, we need more. What has come isn't enough for the number of residents. We need generators and we need boots because people are injuring their feet. Some are still looking for missing relatives. Siti Fatima says she was separated from her husband and parents when the flooding started and she hasn't seen them since. Three provinces on the Indonesian island of Sumatra were devastated by cyclone-induced floods and landslides, made worse by deforestation for extractive industries. Home to more than 300,000 people, Aceh Tamyang is one of the worst hit areas. This village in Aceh Tamyang is one of several that have been completely wiped out, hundreds of houses destroyed when the river overflowed. Authorities say every single person in this region has been affected by this disaster. Surrounded by floodwaters and thick mud and with insufficient clean water, disease is spreading among the thousands of displaced persons. When the local hospital has been damaged, 10 patients died in the immediate aftermath of the floods during the power blackout. Medical devices and medicine, covered in mud, rendered unusable at a time of urgent need. I feel devastated. All our facilities are underwater. It's like we need to start from zero because we can't use the main equipment. But help is coming. The first unit to be restored will be our emergency unit. As night falls, electricity is still down. This street used to be a busy commercial hub, people say. Now they're afraid and exhausted, with nothing to do at night but sit in the darkness. Jessica Washington, Al Jazeera, Aceh Tamyang, Indonesia.

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