MELAKA: Operasi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR) seorang rakyat Malaysia yang hilang dipercayai terbabit dalam tragedi tanah runtuh di Padang Panjang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia pada 27 November lalu, masih diteruskan sehingga kini.

Duta Besar Malaysia ke Indonesia, Datuk Syed Mohamad Hasrin Tengku Hussin, berkata operasi itu dilaksanakan pasukan keselamatan Indonesia di wilayah terbabit sejak mangsa, Asrul Nizam Apridwson, dilaporkan hilang.

"Operasi mencari masih diteruskan dan sehingga kini masih belum ada perkhabaran mangsa ditemui," katanya ketika dihubungi hari ini.

Tragedi banjir besar melanda Padang Panjang mengakibatkan beberapa kenderaan termasuk dinaiki Asrul Nizam bersama ahli keluarganya dihanyutkan.

Kelmarin, Kementerian Luar mengesahkan mangsa hilang dalam tanah runtuh di Padang Panjang, Sumatera Barat, dengan Konsulat Jeneral Malaysia di Medan akan terus berhubung dengan Badan Nasional Pencarian dan Pertolongan (BASARNAS) Indonesia, Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) Sumatera Barat, serta polis tempatan (Polres Padang Panjang) untuk mendapatkan maklumat terkini mengenai operasi SAR.

JAKARTA – Satu hantaran tular di media sosial Indonesia memaparkan penduduk Gayo, Aceh memohon bantuan daripada Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ketika mereka tidak menerima sebarang bantuan daripada pemerintah selepas banjir besar melanda wilayah itu, lapor laman berita Harian Disway kelmarin.

Dalam hantaran yang dimuat naik di laman Instagram Sabtu lalu, pengumuman dibuat atas nama Relawan Pemuda Gayo itu memberitahu bahawa mereka tidak menerima bantuan selama lima hari.

“Kami, penduduk Gayo memohon bantuan Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Penduduk kelaparan, sudah lima hari tidak ada bantuan,” kata hantaran tersebut.

“@anwaribrahim_my Tolong kami warga Aceh Tengah, Bener Meriah, Gayo Lues. Kami terputus hubungan, belum ada bantuan di kampung-kampung terpencil,” tambah hantaran tersebut.

Video itu menjadi tular, dengan pengguna media sosial menyatakan bahawa pemerintah Indonesia tidak menangani bencana itu dengan bersungguh-sungguh.

Sehari selepas hantaran itu dikongsikan, Agensi Pengurusan Bencana Negara (BNPB) dilaporkan berusaha untuk sampai ke lokasi yang terjejas akibat banjir di Aceh melalui jalan laut bagi menghantar bantuan logistik dan peralatan kepada penduduk. – AGENSI

PADANG BESAR – Industri pelancongan Thailand dijangka pulih sepenuhnya pada hujung Januari tahun depan selepas sebahagian besar bandar itu ditenggelami banjir besar baru-baru ini.

Presiden Persatuan Pelanco­ngan dan Perdagangan Halal Thailand-ASEAN, Aida Oujeh berkata, pendapatan industri pelancongan di bandar terbesar di selatan Thailand itu juga diunjur mengalami kemerosotan antara 30 hingga 40 juta Thai Baht (THB) (RM3.9 juta – RM5.2 juta) bulan ini.

Janaan pendapatan daripada kehadiran pelancong dijangka merudum kerana kebanyakan infrastruktur pelancongan me­ngalami kerosakan dan mengambil masa untuk dibaik pulih.

Hatyai merupakan destinasi popular rakyat Malaysia yang berkunjung ke selatan negara Gajah Putih itu saban tahun, terutama ketika cuti hujung tahun dan sambutan tahun baharu.

Terdapat sesetengah lokasi di Hatyai ditenggelami air sehingga 15 meter dan menyebabkan kerosakan teruk kepada hotel yang menjadi penginapan pelancong.

Menurut Aida, selain pembersihan, kerajaan Thailand pada masa sama sedang menjalankan operasi kawalan kesihatan persekitaran bagi membendung penyakit pasca banjir.

“Kaedah itu kawalan itu antara lain adalah usaha awal kerajaan Thailand walaupun tidak lagi kedengaran wabak akibat bawaan bencana banjir kali ini.

“Mengenai jumlah sebenar kerugian harta benda terutama­nya kemudahan pelancongan, ia masih lagi dalam penilaian. Namun dianggarkan sekurang-kurangnya mencecah 100 juta THB (RM12.9 juta) nilai kerosakan akibat banjir pada kali ini,” ujarnya.

Katanya, banjir besar biasanya melanda Hatyai 10 tahun sekali. Ujarnya, bandar Hatyai kali ini betul-betul ‘dicuci’ bersih dan mungkin ada hikmah di sebalik bencana yang berlaku.

Tambah Aida, beliau berharap industri pelancongan Thailand dan Malaysia khususnya di kawasan terjejas banjir kembali pulih secepat mungkin dan pe­ngusaha pelancongan perlu tabah menghadapi ujian ini.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia/COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Governments and aid groups in Indonesia and Sri Lanka worked Tuesday (Dec 2) to rush aid to hundreds of thousands stranded by deadly flooding that has killed more than 1,300 people in four countries.

Torrential monsoon season deluges paired with two separate tropical cyclones last week dumped heavy rain across Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia's Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia.

AFP analysis of US weather data showed several flood-hit regions across Asia experienced their highest November rainfall totals since 2012.

The floodwaters have now largely receded, but the devastation means hundreds of thousands of people are living in shelters and struggling to secure clean water and food.

In Indonesia's Aceh, one of the worst-affected regions, people told AFP that anyone who could afford to was stockpiling.

"Road access is mostly cut off in flood-affected areas," 29-year-old Erna Mardhiah said as she joined a long queue at a petrol station in Banda Aceh.

"People are worried about running out of fuel," she added from the line she had been waiting in for two hours. The pressure has affected prices.

"Most things are already sky-high... chillies alone are up to 300,000 rupiah (US$18) per kilo, so that's probably why people are panic-buying," she said.

On Monday, Indonesia's government said it was sending 34,000 tonnes of rice and 6.8 million litres of cooking oil to the three worst-affected provinces, Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.

"There can be no delays," Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said. But Alfian, a resident in Banda Aceh, told AFP the government had been "very slow, especially in ensuring basic necessities".

Food shortage risk

Even areas that were not directly affected were seeing shortages because of blocked transport links.

In Dolok Sanggul in North Sumatra, one resident told AFP he had been lining up since Monday afternoon for fuel, and spent the night sleeping in his car.

"When we were about to enter the gas station, the fuel ran out," he said.

Aid groups warned that local markets were running out of essential supplies and prices had tripled.

"Communities across Aceh are at severe risk of food shortages and hunger if supply lines are not reestablished in the next seven days," said charity group Islamic Relief, which has sent a shipment of 12 tonnes of food aboard an Indonesian navy vessel.

By Tuesday afternoon, the toll across Sumatra had risen to 712, but the number of missing was also rising, with 500 people still listed.

And 1.2 million people have been forced from their homes, the disaster agency said.

Survivors have described terrifying waves of water that arrived without warning.

In East Aceh, Zamzami said the floodwaters had been "unstoppable, like a tsunami wave".

"We can't explain how big the water seemed, it was truly extraordinary," said the 33-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The weather system that inundated Indonesia also brought heavy rain to southern Thailand, where at least 176 people were killed.

Across the border in Malaysia, two more people were killed.

Colombo floodwaters recede

A separate storm brought heavy rains across all of Sri Lanka, triggering flash floods and deadly landslides that killed at least 465 people.

Another 366 remain missing, and an official in the central town of Welimada told local reporters he expected the toll to rise, as his staff dug through the mud looking for victims buried by landslides.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency to deal with what he called the "most challenging natural disaster in our history".

Unlike his Indonesian counterpart, he has called for international aid.

Sri Lanka's air force, backed by counterparts from India and Pakistan, has been evacuating stranded residents and delivering food and other supplies.

Some 1.7 million people were affected by the floods and landslides, officials said.

In the capital Colombo, floodwaters were slowly subsiding on Tuesday.

Rains have eased across the country, but landslide alerts remain in force across most of the hardest-hit central region, officials said. - AFP