The Indonesian military increased the relief in Sumatra in three provinces, which were destroyed by the catastrophic floods and landslides, and many of the people are still trapped without government help.

The number of victims of the cyclone of last week had gone up to 867 people on 5th December evening, with 521 of them missing as per the government data. Approximately 200 people were also killed by the storm systems in southern Thailand and Malaysia.

On 5th December, Major General Freddy Ardianzah announced that at least 10 portable Bailey bridges have been erected by the military in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra provinces to assist in doling out food and other aid supplies to remote residents.

These bridges are important to construct to spread logistics. Other than the roads, which are still closed, the aid has not reached the victims of the disaster.

According to Ardianzah, the military was also bringing in mobile reverse osmosis systems, which purify polluted water and make it drinkable, and would keep on making airdrops of food and drugs to marooned residents.

Aceh Tamiang, 40-year-old bunga, was finding it difficult to obtain clean water and diapers for her five-month-old baby. The family has been stranded on the second floor of her home without a government response for the last week.

The government should be more nimble in allocating medical aid, food, and clean water, among others. Bunga told Reuters that my child has not bathed in 10 days.

Muhammad Asan, 60, was forced to see his wife succumb to long-term diabetes in the three-storey structure where they had sought refuge against the floods since she had not been able to carry her medications when they fled their house right before it was swept by the floods.

“No medical attention… No medicine,” he said, and to this he added the fact that the body of his wife was still within the building because there was no place available to bury it.

The government officials at the local government of Sumatra have urged the national government of Jakarta to declare a national emergency so that more money can be allowed to be used in rescue and relief.

In the previous week, President Prabowo Subianto reported that the situation was under control and the existing arrangements were adequate, but his deputy thought otherwise after inspecting the affected locales on Thursday.

“I apologise. The people of Sumatra are not alone, you are not alone either,” Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka clarified in a statement after the visit, and the government would see that those who were evacuated to the evacuation centres could be adequately taken care of.