A week of relentless rainfall has triggered severe flooding and landslides in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, leaving at least 31 people dead. In response, local authorities are seeking an emergency disaster declaration, officials announced Friday.
Tuahta Ramajaya Saragih, head of North Sumatra's Disaster Management Agency, confirmed that a request for the declaration has been submitted to the provincial governor.
If approved, the emergency status, which would last through December, would expedite aid distribution and mobilize national resources to assist the thousands of residents displaced by the disaster.
"High-intensity rainfall continues to batter the region, and we expect the risk of further disasters to remain elevated until at least early December," Saragih said.
The devastation has spanned multiple districts, from Medan to rural areas like Sibolangit and Sayur Matinggi, where communities remain cut off by landslides that have buried roads under debris, the disaster agency said.
Rescue workers are navigating treacherous conditions to clear access routes and search for missing persons, while temporary shelters are strained to accommodate the displaced, it said.
The country faces an annual monsoon season that often brings torrential rains and severe flooding, particularly in low-lying and densely populated regions like North Sumatra.
However, experts warn that deforestation and poorly planned urbanization have exacerbated the severity of these events, reducing the landscape's ability to absorb excess water and increasing vulnerability to landslides.
In the past week, heavy rains have caused rivers to overflow, sweeping away homes, farmland and infrastructure in North Sumatra, according to the disaster agency.
