floods overwhelm Sumatra as regencies cry out for help
Updated ,first published
Singapore/Jakarta: Local governments on the Indonesian island of Sumatra say they were unable to respond to the flood disaster that killed at least 770 people because the destruction was so great and their treasuries were so low.
Hundreds of people remain missing in three provinces after a rare equatorial cyclone last week triggered extreme flooding and landslides, destroying villages, key infrastructure and communications.
In North Sumatra, flooding caused debris to crash into homes, including logs suspected to come from large areas of natural forests that have been razed for plantations and mines in recent years.
“Everywhere you look left and right along the road there are piles of timber,” said Sarma Hutajulu, a volunteer rescue worker who helped clear debris in the Tukka area. New York Times. “These are things that hit people’s homes.”
Walden Sitanggang, a pastor and environmental activist from North Sumatra, said: “I saw it myself in the field; so many logs were being moved
“The logs don’t just fall from the sky; they must have come from logging activities upriver.”
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto this year cut transfers to local government budgets as part of broader austerity measures to help meet key election promises such as free school lunches, which have been beset by mass food poisonings.
These cuts have also spread to the country’s key institutions, including the disaster management body (BNPB).
It is impossible to know how effective disaster responses would have been if local governments’ budgets had not been cut. Regardless, the situation in Sumatra has brought back to the fore the president’s austerity drive that fueled protests across the archipelago in August.
Masinton Pasaribu, regent of Central Tapanuli in North Sumatra province, told this imprint on Wednesday that the money left over to his government after Prabowo’s cuts went to “routine expenses.”
“So our financial situation is more difficult,” he said. “And now we’re faced with this disaster. We’re in this situation right now; we’re completely exhausted.”
According to BNPB, at least 86 people were killed in the government district of Pasaribu.
Despite the deaths and ongoing rescue efforts, Prabowo has been reluctant to declare a national emergency. Doing so would unlock resources, eliminate bureaucracy, and relieve pressure on lower-level governments by centralizing control at the national level.
Some regencies have warned provincial governments that the disaster has exceeded their budgets and logistical capabilities.
“Given the major impact of the disaster and the regency’s limited ability in terms of logistical availability, equipment, human resources and budget, we are of the opinion that the government of Aceh province should take over the immediate disaster response,” one of the regents wrote in a letter seen in this byline.
Asked at a press conference on Wednesday why a national emergency had not been declared yet, Pratikno, the coordinating minister for human development and cultural affairs, said the president had ordered “all ministries and institutions” to “use all their resources to the maximum.”
Prabowo told reporters this week that he believed “current measures” were “sufficient.”
The last situation that Indonesia, which was in danger of disaster, declared a national emergency was the Covid-19 epidemic. The period before that was the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
Green groups have pointed out that large-scale deforestation is a factor behind this destruction. Greenpeace Indonesia said the majority of Sumatra’s river basins were in critical condition, citing forest-eating palm oil plantations, dry farming and other land-hungry industries such as hydropower as the main causes.
However, the administration focused its attention on illegal operations, announcing on Wednesday that it would have the forestry task force investigate.
Prabowo, who toured flood-affected areas of Sumatra this week, called on local governments to play a greater role in mitigating “extreme weather conditions resulting from future climate change”.
This can put pressure on attorneys to find money where there is none.
“A special budget for future mitigation efforts will undoubtedly be a joint program between the central government and regional governments down to the district and city level,” said Muhammad MTA, spokesman for the Aceh provincial government.
“Given the current regional financial situation, we need budget support from the central government.”
Prabowo has been vocal about the realities of climate change, even referencing it in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, right after US President Donald Trump said it was a hoax.
But budget priorities told a different story, according to Dr Hilman Palaon of the Lowy Institute, an independent think tank.
“Climate change and disaster mitigation appear to be secondary concerns that are overshadowed by other priorities,” he said.
“There have been budget cuts in the relevant ministries responsible for these issues at the national level.
“Similarly, all local governments, including the most affected areas, saw reductions in their budget allocations.”
The disaster in Sumatra continues as Sri Lanka faces floods caused by Cyclone Ditwah. While the death toll here so far is 465, at least 185 people died in storms in southern Thailand last month.
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Zach Hope is a Southeast Asia correspondent. He is a former reporter for the Brisbane Times.Connect via email.
Karuni Rompies is deputy Indonesia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: excitement.
