The number of people killed by floods and landslides in western Indonesia jumped to 193 on Friday as rescuers reached remote villages, delivering food and medicine to thousands of people displaced by torrential weeklong rains.
Boats and helicopters were used to ferry aid to survivors in Aceh province, located on Sumatra island’s northern tip, where the death toll climbed to 146, said Jabad, an official in the area who goes by only one name.
At least 47 others were killed in neighboring North Sumatra province, said Edy Sofyan, the provincial spokesman.
Authorities said more than 400,000 people were forced from their homes as result of the flooding.
Heavy rain continued to fall over the hardest-hit districts, complicating relief efforts and adding to the misery of survivors, said local government spokesman Nadir Musa.
The relief efforts followed days of torrential seasonal rain, the cause of dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in the sprawling archipelagic nation where millions of people live in mountainous areas or in fertile flood plains.
Helicopters dropped food, tents and medicines while volunteers in dinghies also distributed aid, said Musa.
Aceh was the hardest hit province in the 2004 tsunami, losing an estimated 167,000 people, but the floods and landslides have affected inland regions that were untouched by that disaster.