ACEH TAMIANG, Dec 7 — Hit by deadly floods, Indonesians in the region around Aceh Tamiang are grappling with worsening diseases and a lack of medical care as workers struggled to help dozens of residents at the lone hospital in the area.
Government data revealed today that cyclone-induced floods and landslides last week devastated three provinces on Indonesia's Sumatra island, including Aceh, killing at least 940 people, with an additional 276 people listed as missing.
As residents lost their homes to pools of mud and debris, diseases got worse. The Indonesian Health Ministry said that diseases included diarrhoea, fever, or myalgia, triggered because the "environment and places of stay have not recovered post-disaster".
At the only hospital in Aceh Tamiang, a patient and medical staff told Reuters today about worsening disease there. Reuters' witnesses said medical equipment was covered with mud, syringes were scattered on the floor, and floods swept medicines away.
"These workers do not know what tired means," said Ayu Wahyuni Putri, who gave birth to her child days before the floods hit.
Nurhayati, a 42-year-old nurse, said the hospital was nearly paralysed due to a lack of medicine. Workers tried to save ventilators at an intensive care unit for babies, but were unsuccessful as rising water covered them.
She added that a baby died, while six others survived.
"People know me as a nurse. When I could not do something, it felt devastating.
"I can only give the available medicine. This is an extraordinary disaster. Everything is destroyed," she said, hoping that the hospital would be reactivated.
Dr Chik M. Iqbal, who travelled by boat to reach Aceh Tamiang, said that ruined bridges made it nearly impossible for medical workers to go around Aceh, and that emergency rooms would only be up and running by tomorrow.
On Friday (December 5), the ministry said the floods impacted some 31 hospitals and 156 smaller health centres across the three provinces.
Earlier today, President Prabowo Subianto visited Aceh and ordered authorities to repair bridges and dams and to cancel state-backed microloans for farmers.
Local government officials on Sumatra have called on the national government in Jakarta to declare a national emergency to free up additional funds for rescue-and-relief efforts.
