Under the scorching sun, Nur Apsyah stood in line with hundreds of others, hoping to get some of the scarce food aid in Indonesia’s flood-hit Sumatra.
She was one of the lucky ones on Wednesday when soldiers in military uniforms oversaw the distribution of rice to flood survivors.
Her town, Sibolga, has been almost completely cut off after road damage, leaving residents with no electricity, food, fuel, or water.
It has never been like this in Sibolga before,” said the 28-year-old, who stood at the state-owned rice warehouse in neighboring Sarudik with her parents.
There is no food, money has run out, and there are no jobs. How can we eat.
Last week’s flooding and landslides killed more than 770 people, buried homes, washed away bridges, and cut off transportation links across the island of Sumatra.
With many areas inaccessible by land and more rain expected, humanitarian groups warned that the scale of rescue and recovery efforts is unprecedented.
Although the seaside town of Sibolga in the Central Tapanuli district escaped the worst of the flood damage, it was left without electricity and limited connection to the rest of the country.
Nur described the situation as an “emergency,” adding that people recently looted small shops in town.
The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Pratikno, said that the rice distribution was part of efforts to ease the burden on the people.
AFP observed that lucky recipients had their fingers marked with ink to prevent double distribution and hoarding. Some men carried 50-kilogram sacks of rice on their shoulders, while women placed them on their heads to carry them away.
Queues outside the warehouse and fuel stations have begun to ease, though forecasts of more rain raised fears of new damage and worsening shortages.
Many shops in Sibolga remain closed due to lack of electricity after the disaster. The few that are open rely on generators.
Local resident Sahmila Pasaribu told AFP that she spent hours searching for essential supplies.
Even if she had money, she said, “there is nothing to buy. It is unfortunate that because of disasters like this, everything is scarce: fuel, rice, cooking oil.
At a local government-owned water company office in Sibolga, Sopian Hadi filled water containers as a queue stretched behind him.
He said he has regularly visited the office over the past week after landslides disrupted the water line to his house.
We need water for our daily lives… water is our source of life,” said the 30-year-old grocery store owner.
Other supplies are limited, and he described standing in line for six hours to fill his motorcycle’s fuel tank.
Despite the circumstances, Sopian said he refused to be defeated by the situation.
I am not desperate, because to survive, we cannot despair.
