Indonesian Town Uses Mass Grave as Rising Flood Death Toll Overwhelms Region
BATANG TORU, Indonesia — Grieving families gathered outside a local health center in the Indonesian town of Batang Toru on Friday, anxiously awaiting news of missing relatives as the community prepared a mass grave for seven unidentified victims of devastating floods and landslides.
The disaster, triggered by days of relentless cyclonic rains across Sumatra island, has claimed at least 94 lives and displaced nearly 80,000 people. Approximately 80 individuals remain missing as search and rescue operations continue under challenging conditions.
In Batang Toru, located in hard-hit North Sumatra province, residents watched solemnly as seven bodies, wrapped in black plastic, were lowered into a communal grave dug on land belonging to a state plantation. With no morgue facilities available, authorities had no alternative but to conduct burials quickly amid concerns over decomposition and public health.
“We found 21 bodies that were placed in a health center… the seven will be buried,” said Mara Tinggi, chief of Batang Toru town. The stench of decomposing remains permeated the area, forcing those waiting outside the health center to cover their noses.
The floods and landslides have caused widespread destruction, severing road access, disrupting power supplies, and damaging communication networks. Rescue teams are working to clear debris and reach isolated communities, though progress remains slow.
In West Sumatra, more than 100 people remain stranded in their homes, awaiting evacuation and emergency aid, according to Ilham Wahab, spokesperson for the local search and rescue agency.
The catastrophe extends beyond Indonesia, with seasonal floods across Southeast Asia claiming 183 lives to date, including significant casualties in Thailand and Malaysia.
As recovery efforts continue, Indonesian authorities warn that the death toll may still rise, with many communities yet to be reached and days of rainfall saturating the region’s unstable terrain.
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