Landslides, floods kill over 200 in Indonesia

Indonesian rescuers are searching mud-filled homes for bodies after landslides and floods on eastern Sulawesi island killed 210…

Indonesian rescuers are searching mud-filled homes for bodies after landslides and floods on eastern Sulawesi island killed 210 people.

A search-and-rescue operation has been under way in South Sulawesi province after two days of heavy rain at the beginning of the week, but officials said some areas were inaccessible because roads and bridges had been damaged.

Another 104 people were missing in Sinjai regency, the worst-hit area after flooding early on Tuesday that turned swathes of land into vast lakes. Some survivors have suffered diarrhoea and skin diseases.

Rahman Bando, South Sulawesi branch head of the Indonesian Red Cross, said 180 people had died in Sinjai alone and 30 had died in other regencies in the province.

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"We have provided public kitchens and our volunteers are looking for victims. Several areas are unreachable. Bridges and roads are broken. We walk in the rivers," he said.

Makassar is about 1,400 kilometres east of Jakarta.

Torrential rains and landslides are regular features of tropical Indonesia. Rampant deforestation often adds to the ease with which hillsides are saturated and collapse, and lack of vegetation encourages flooding as less ground water is retained.