Heavy rains have flooded parts of Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Floods and landslides have killed at least 954 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia in recent days after the tropical storm hit, as efforts to help thousands affected by the extreme weather continue.
Arriving in North Sumatra on Monday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said the government’s priority was “how to quickly send the necessary aid”.
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“There are many isolated villages that, God willing, we will be able to reach,” Prabowo said, adding that the government is deploying helicopters and planes to help with relief efforts.
Pressure has mounted on Prabowo to declare a national emergency in response to floods and landslides that have killed At least 442 peopleHundreds more are missing.
Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Prabowo has so far avoided publicly appealing for international aid.
The Indonesian government has sent two hospital ships and three warships to the worst-hit areas, where many roads are impassable.
Floodwaters in Sungai Nyalo village, about 100 km (62 miles) from West Sumatra’s capital Padang, had mostly receded on Sunday, leaving houses, vehicles and crops coated in thick gray mud.
“Most of the villagers chose to stay; they didn’t want to leave their homes,” Idris, 55, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP news agency.
Sri Lanka asked for help
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, the government has called for international aid and is using military helicopters to reach people stranded by floods and landslides caused by Cyclone Dittawa.
At least 334 people have diedSri Lanka’s disaster agency said on Sunday that many more were still missing.
North of Colombo, the Sri Lankan Air Force said in a Facebook post on Monday that a helicopter pilot “tragically lost his life” “while making an emergency landing during a mission to help flood-affected communities in Lunuvilla”.
Officials said the extent of the damage in the worst-hit Madhya Pradesh was only revealed as aid workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mud.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, vowed to rebuild.
“We are facing the biggest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” Dissanayake told the nation.
“Certainly, we will create a better nation than what existed before.”
The death toll continues to rise in southern Thailand
Thai authorities announced the death toll on Monday The ongoing flood in the southern part of the country At least 176 people were raised.
According to AFP, the government has put in place relief measures, but public criticism of the flood response is mounting and two local officials have been suspended for their alleged failures.
Across the border in Malaysia, where heavy rains left large swathes of land in Perlis state, two people were killed.
A year of deadly floods across Asia
This week’s floods and landslides are the latest extreme weather events to wreak havoc across Southeast Asian countries in recent weeks, including Two typhoons The Philippines were hit within a week of each other last month, killing at least 242 people.
Flooding in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia was also exacerbated by a rare tropical storm that brought particularly heavy rain to the island of Sumatra.
Climate change Storms are increasing in intensity and frequency, and more heavy rain events are occurring because the warmer climate has more moisture.