JAKARTA, Dec 24 (AFP) Dec 24, 2006
Nearly 70 people have been killed and 200,000 forced to flee their homes in flash floods that have swept through parts of Indonesia and Malaysia in the past week, officials said Sunday.

In Indonesia, the death toll has risen to at least 61 and hundreds more remained missing after torrential rains battered the island of Sumatra. More than 110,000 people have been displaced in Aceh province, devastated by the 2004 tsunami.

Officials in Malaysia said seven people had been killed and nearly 90,000 others were forced to evacuate their homes in the worst floods to hit the country in decades.

Villages in Indonesia's Aceh province have been swallowed by flood waters up to eight metres (more than 26 feet) deep following a week of torrential rains as meteorologists said the rainy season was reaching its peak across Sumatra.

"We have not been able to evacuate more victim's bodies since this morning. The number so far has been 60 bodies from Aceh Tamiyang district," Ghufran Zainal Abidin, the local chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party, told AFP from the worst-affected area.

"The Aceh Tamiyang area is surrounded by water and the only way we can get around is by boat," said Abidin, who is helping to coordinate the flood relief effort.

Entire villages have been washed away in Aceh Tamiyang, where the flimsy houses were built from bamboo and wood.

I have received reports that Limo Mukur village has been washed away by the current and we have not found residents of that village," provincial spokesman Nurdin Joes told AFP.

Earlier, officials said hundreds of people had been reported missing in the district. The local capital Kuala Simpang was still cut off from rescue teams, Abidin said.

The floods have also forced tens of thousands to flee their homes and take refuge in state-run camps.

North Aceh deputy district head Nasruddin told AFP "one person was killed, four reported missing and more than 110,000 people fled their homes in North Aceh."

The army and Indonesian Red Cross were rushing in aid supplies. Authorities feared the death toll could climb further, as rescue crews had not yet been able to reach some affected areas.

In other parts of northern Sumatra, water levels continued to rise as heavy rains showed no sign of abating and a dam had burst. The main roads connecting provinces of West Sumatra and Riau are cut off, Kompas daily reported Sunday.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has blamed illegal logging in part for the deadly floods, and pledged that the government would intensify its efforts to replant the forests.

In neighbouring Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lashed out at looters who had taken advantage of the chaos sparked by the devastating floods, urging the public to make citizen's arrests if they witnessed any wrongdoing.

"Make a citizen's arrest. There is nothing wrong with that. You cannot just leave it to the police if you see something (wrong)," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Star newspaper during a visit to flood-hit Johor state.

"Do not allow this to go on. Do not wait for the public to act, but all those (helping in the relief) should take action against the looters."

Reports of looting have surfaced in Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang states in north and central Malaysia.

Police have so far arrested five people in Kota Tinggi, one of the worst-affected areas of Johor state, where at least 2,400 homes are still under water.

Tens of thousands of Malaysians were on Sunday still living in government emergency shelters that were starting to run out of essential supplies.

Rosleli Zahari, political chief of the ruling United Malays National Organisation in Kota Tinggi, estimated that losses could total millions of ringgit.

"Houses, cars, palm oil estates and fish farms are damaged," he said.

"The flood situation is still bad but it seems to be improving. We pray the rain will stop," he added.

Source: Terra Daily