Calls grow for Indonesia to accept foreign disaster aid after floods

With fatalities from the weather-related disaster in Sumatra approaching 1,000 and numerous regions still struggling to receive aid, questions are growing over whether the government can manage the situation without international assistance.

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Two weeks have passed since flash floods and landslides triggered by a rare tropical cyclone first struck Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, leaving a devastating impact on residents and infrastructure in the northern tip of the island.

As at the night of Dec 8, the death toll across the three provinces had reached 961, with at least 289 people still unaccounted for and around 5,000 injured.

More than 157,000 houses and over 1,200 public facilities have been damaged in 52 regencies, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

BNPB spokesman Abdul Muhari said that more displaced residents were found in East Aceh and Bener Meriah regencies in Aceh, bringing the total number of evacuees across three provinces to more than 1,057,000 people.

"It is our responsibility to continue optimising logistics distribution to those in evacuation centres to ensure their basic food and nonfood needs are met," he said during a press conference on Dec 8.

Meanwhile, the BNPB head, Lieutenant-General Suharyanto, said dozens of regions, particularly in Aceh, remain cut off from aid deliveries due to cutoff roads.

In both North and West Sumatra, at least seven villages across two regencies in each province remain isolated.

"We are also short of mobile water tankers on the ground, which means clean water supplies are disrupted, so we're asking for more water tankers to help (isolated residents)," Lt-Gen Suharyanto said on Dec 7 at a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh.