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Rescue workers still struggling to reach isolated communities a week later Catastrophic floods and landslides It caused devastation across South and Southeast Asia, killing more than 1,400 people and leaving nearly 1,000 missing.
The disaster killed at least 780 people in Indonesia, 465 in Sri Lanka, 185 in Thailand and three in Malaysia, officials said on Wednesday, while the storm continued to cause rain and flooding across the region.
Hundreds of villages remained buried under mud and debris and vast areas were still without electricity or telecommunications.
Indonesia bore the brunt, with many districts in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh provinces becoming inaccessible due to damaged roads and collapsed bridges, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Rescue teams relied on helicopters, boats and makeshift rafts to reach isolated villages, but operations were slowed by lost transport links and the dangers of fresh landslides.
Concerns were also emerging about environmental degradation. Padang residents and emergency workers said piles of neatly cut timber were found among the flood debris, raising fears that illegal logging may have worsened the disaster by weakening the hills.
“From their size, it was clear that these were not just trees naturally broken by the flood, but also wood that had been deliberately cut,” Neviana, a member of the cleanup team, told Reuters.
Authorities have yet to confirm the source of the logs, but Cabinet Secretary Minister Teddy Indra Wijaya said the government is investigating.
“In addition to extreme weather, environmental degradation has worsened the impact,” the minister said.
Sri Lanka is responding to the disaster under far greater pressure than its neighbors as the South Asian nation is still recovering from an economic crisis and faces shortages of fuel, foreign exchange and basic relief supplies.
Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya met with foreign diplomats last week to request immediate relief and reconstruction aid. India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates were among the first countries to heed the call and deliver aid.
On Wednesday, Indian officials confirmed that they had sent an additional naval ship loaded with medical teams and supplies to the ongoing operations off Sri Lanka’s east coast.
Many parts of the country remained inaccessible on Wednesday, especially in the central highlands where landslides destroyed entire settlements.
Officials say hundreds of people are still missing and some remote areas are still inaccessible due to mountain roads being blocked.
In Thailand, the government said recovery operations were progressing well. Spokesperson Rachada Dhanadirek said water and electricity had been restored to almost all affected areas, especially in the south of the country.
He said more than 1 billion baht (£22 million) in compensation had already been distributed to more than 120,000 affected families.
The Transport Ministry on Wednesday confirmed that sections of the Southern Railway have reopened after several days of disruption, although repairs are still underway on several sections damaged by floods.
Heavy rain is expected to continue this week in parts of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, slowing helicopter access and increasing the risk of further landslides.