TUKKA
\nSurvivors in Indonesia were piecing back shattered lives Friday after devastating floods killed more than 1,500 people across four countries, with fears of fresh misery as more rain looms.
\nIndonesia has borne the brunt, with its toll rising to 837 dead and 545 missing, authorities said, many in Sumatra\u2019s northern Aceh province where more than 800,000 people have been displaced. Sri Lanka has reported 486 deaths, Thailand 276 and Malaysia two.
\nMany survivors in Sumatra were counting the cost of the deluge that started last week, leading to destructive flash-flooding and landslides.
\n\u201cOur house was covered by soil up to the ceiling,\u201d said Rumita Laurasibuea. \u201cAround the house, there were piles of wood.\u201d
\nThe 42-year-old government employee, now sheltering in a school, told AFP that recovering from the flood\u2019s impact \u201ccould take more than a year.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is a calamity we must face,\u201d added Hendra Vramenia, 37, who fled his village of Kampung Dalam in southeastern Aceh.
\n\u201cPossessions can be regained,\u201d he told AFP, saying he remained worried that people in remote areas risk starvation.
\nHendra said he would consider evacuating his family to his
\n\u201cI will evacuate the children and family there first. Or I might also consider renting a house for the family,\u201d he added.
\n– \u2018Still worried\u2019 –
\nIndonesia\u2019s meteorological agency warned Aceh could see \u201cvery heavy rain\u201d through Saturday, with North and West Sumatra also at risk.
\nIndonesian flood victims said fresh rain was likely to bring fresh misery.
\n\u201cWe are still worried… If the rain comes again, where can we go? Where can we evacuate?\u201d asked Rumita.
\nIn Sri Lanka, authorities said floodwaters had begun to recede, but residents face a mammoth clean-up.
\nIn the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear the mud and water damage.
\n\u201cWe are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,\u201d Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.
\n\u201cIt takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,\u201d said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas.
\n\u201cNo one can do this without help.\u201d
\n– \u2018Criminal prosecution\u2019 –
\nTwo separate weather systems dumped massive rainfall on all of Sri Lanka, Sumatra, parts of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.
\nWhile across Asia seasonal monsoons bring rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly across the region.
\nBut environmentalists and Indonesia\u2019s government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flash flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages and stranded residents of rooftops.
\nIndonesia is among the countries with the largest annual forest loss due to mining, plantations and fires, and has seen the clearance of large tracts of its lush rainforest in recent decades.
\nJakarta on Wednesday said it was revoking environmental permits of several companies suspected of worsening the disaster\u2019s impact.
\nEight companies will be summoned on Monday in a probe, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said.
\nShould evidence show corporate involvement in illegal logging or land clearing, which aggravated the disaster, \u201cinvestigations could escalate to criminal prosecution,\u201d Hanif said.
\nThe scale of the disaster has made relief efforts challenging.
\nIndonesia\u2019s government this week insisted it could handle the fallout, despite public outcry that not enough was being done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TUKKA Survivors in Indonesia were piecing back shattered lives Friday after devastating floods killed more than 1,500 people across four countries, with fears of fresh misery as more rain looms. Indonesia has borne the brunt, with its toll rising to 837 dead and 545 missing, authorities said, many in Sumatra\u2019s northern Aceh province where more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-518422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n