Helicopters dropped food to isolated villages and security forces helped search for survivors as the number of people killed by floods and landslides across Asia climbed today to more than 100.
Three-quarters of the deaths were in eastern Indonesia, where days of torrential downpours caused tons of mud and debris to crash into hillside villages, with the remainder in Vietnam. On the nearby Chinese island of Hainan, 64,000 people had to be evacuated.
Hundreds of homes were damaged when a river burst its banks in the hardest-hit Indonesian village of Wasior, sweeping away residents in a fast-moving deluge and leaving behind waist-high water. "Many people didnt have time to save themselves," said one woman, Ira Wanoni, as she waded through the mud and debris.
With roads and bridges across West Papua province destroyed, it took days for help to arrive. It wasnt until a navy ship arrived Wednesday, carrying soldiers and police, that the extent of the damage became clear. Dortheis Sawaki, heading local relief operations, said 75 bodies had been pulled from the mud and the wreckage of crumpled homes, but dozens more were still missing.
Another 90 people were hospitalized, many with broken bones. Some had to be evacuated by helicopter and, as hospitals in the district of Manokwari became overwhelmed; others were taken by ship to neighboring provinces.