‘The City Was Gone’: Survivors Recount Flood Chaos During Rare Cyclone in Indonesia

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United Tractors, the parent company of Agincourt Resources, said in an exchange filing that its unit has temporarily suspended operations to focus on relief efforts. The other three firms didn’t reply to requests for comment.

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Indonesia has said recovery efforts will cost more than $3 billion, a bill that will stretch government finances as the nation’s economy contends with lackluster growth, market volatility and weak consumer confidence under President Subianto Prabowo’s still early tenure.

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The Long Wait

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Two weeks after the rain, the scale of annihilation is still becoming evident.

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North of Aceh Tamiang, in the coastal city of Lhokseumawe, a onetime boomtown that drew the likes of Mobil Oil to its Arun gas field, aid workers are trying to reinforce government relief efforts, as far as access allows. An airport partly run by state oil company PT Pertamina has reopened, allowing flights to ferry gas canisters and other goods to the interior. 

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Outside of town, thousands of hectares of rice fields that were weeks away from harvest are now buried under mud. Further inland, electricity is out and roads are treacherous. Household items such as dining tables, refrigerators and electric fans are scattered along way. And north, along the coastal highway, a bridge over the Krueng Tingkeum River sits torn in half, cutting off the main access to Banda Aceh. It was broken, residents said, when a torrent of logs slammed into it.

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One military doctor stationed near a shelter in an inland village of Bener Meriah regency, one of the hardest hit after a landslide destroyed the main road, said for survivors, their main problem now is hunger because aid has been too slow to arrive. Army medics were instructed to redeploy immediately to Aceh Tamiang and Pidie Jaya.

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Prabowo, returning directly from trips to Pakistan and Russia, visited an evacuation shelter in Aceh Tamiang on Friday, apologizing in front of dozens of children gathered there. “God willing, we will fix this. The government will step in and help everyone,” he said. He urged local authorities to strengthen environmental protections. “We must protect our environment and our nature. We cannot cut down trees carelessly.”

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As the President finished speaking, people in the crowd implored him for more help. “Send heavy equipment,” one yelled. “Our houses are flooded, please help us,” another cried out.

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“What is unique about this disaster is the vast size of the affected areas,” said Ade Soekadis, the executive director of Mercy Corps Indonesia. “A million internally displaced people are spread over thousands of villages across three provinces, and the government doesn’t have the resources to build emergency shelters” everywhere they’re needed, he said.

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Harrison, the Langsa resident, said no support of any kind arrived for 10 days. He also saw no police or other officials in his neighborhood during that time. With looting rife, money became useless.

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At night, no one went outside, but at dawn, desperate people made their way through the mud and floodwaters, searching for anything to survive. It wasn’t uncommon to find bodies inside vehicles and the smell of decay filled the air. “Everyone wandered aimlessly, confused, because they were all searching for food and water,” he said.

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Even in Medan, one of Indonesia’s largest cities, the scale of the floods was unlike anything residents could recall. Three rivers burst their banks, inundating neighborhoods that had never flooded and sending water into the official residences of the governor, regional military commander and police chief. Parts of the toll road linking the city to its international airport collapsed.

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“It feels as if nature is angry with us as human beings,” said Budi Ramadhan, 45, whose house on the outskirts of the city was engulfed in two meters of water. “The floodwater is black and foul-smelling. This is something unnatural.”

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—With assistance from Aaron Clark, Yasufumi Saito and Eko Listiyorini.

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