Indonesians climb over logs in walk to aid centre as flood deaths rise over 900

Residents in the Indonesian region of Aceh Tamiang climbed over slippery logs and walked for about an hour on Saturday to get aid, as the death toll from floods and landslides that hit Sumatra island this month rose to more than 900 people.

The death toll from the cyclone-induced floods and landslides across three Indonesian provinces on Sumatra, including Aceh, rose to 908 people on Saturday with 410 listed as missing, government data showed. The storm systems also killed about 200 people in southern Thailand and Malaysia.

Survivors in the Aceh Tamiang region, on the northeast coast of Sumatra, walked for an hour on Saturday, scrambling over scattered logs and passing overturned cars to reach an aid distribution centre set up by volunteers, they told Reuters.

Volunteers handed out clean clothes and brought in a tanker truck of fresh water so people could fill plastic bottles, Reuters witnesses said.

Dimas Firmansyah, a 14-year-old at an Islamic boarding school, said access in and out of Aceh Tamiang was cut, and that students had stayed at the school for a week, taking turns to search for food and boiling and drinking floodwater.

"We stayed for about a week there," Dimas said, urging the government to come to the area to see the calamity themselves.

Local government officials on Sumatra have called on the national government in Jakarta to declare a national emergency to free up additional funds for rescue and relief efforts.

Earlier this week, President Prabowo Subianto said the situation was improving and current arrangements were sufficient.

Halt on companies

Green groups blame deforestation linked to mining and logging for amplifying damage from the floods, and Indonesia is investigating companies suspected of clearing forests around flood-hit areas.

Indonesia's environment ministry said it has temporarily halted the operations of the suspected companies, and that it will require them to perform environmental audits.

The companies include North Sumatra Hydro Energy, which runs the China-funded 510-megawatt hydropower plant in the Batang Toru region of North Sumatra, and miner Agincourt Resources, which operates the Martabe Gold Mine, also in Batang Toru.

Aerial surveys reveal land-clearing in Batang Toru that may have exacerbated the flooding, the environment ministry said.

North Sumatra Hydro Energy did not immediately respond to a query sent on LinkedIn. Agincourt Resources did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.