Flood disaster on Sumatra
Flash floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar have destroyed entire villages on Sumatra, with hundreds of people still missing. Several of our partner organisations have been severely affected.
Your help provides immediate support for:
- Search and rescue operations to find missing persons
- Transporting relief supplies to our research stations and field staff who are in acute need
- Supplying surrounding villages with essential goods such as food, water clothing and medicine
Many of our areas of activity, as well as those of our partners, have been affected by flooding and landslides.
- Red: Evacuation and rescue operations are underway; the areas have been severely affected and show extensive destruction.
- Orange: Affected areas, but without major or structural damage.
- Green: Projects that have not sustained any damage so far.
Cyclone Senyar struck the island of Sumatra on 25 November, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Continuous rainfall caused rivers to burst their banks, triggering flash floods and mudslides that destroyed entire villages.
Over 770 people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. On Sumatra over 3.2 million people have been affected by the disaster. The damage to infrastructure is immense: roads, houses, telecommunications and power lines have been cut off, many regions remain isolated and people cannot be reached. Petrol shortages exacerbate the problem.
One of our research stations in the Batang Toru conservation area, Camp Mayang, used by field researchers to study the Tapanuli orangutan, was particularly affected and was completely flooded. Five rangers who were on site at the time of the disaster have since been able to return to their families unharmed.
Medan, where the office of our sister foundation YEL is located, has also been severely affected. Entire streets are under water there. The partially rebuilt SOCP Orangutan Quarantine and Rehabilitation Centre, badly hit by landslides almost exactly one year ago, and the nearby Orangutan Haven have not been affected so far.
Our friends and partner organisations have reported significant material losses and members of some forest patrol teams cannot be contacted. They are being searched for now. The world renowned Ketambe Research Station where orangutans have been studied since the early 70s has been completely destroyed as the Alas river burst its banks. Many villages throughout the region remain completely cut off from the outside world.
To support the rescue operations and assist our friends and partner organisations in this emergency, we have immediately pledged CHF 20,000 in emergency aid. We hope to be able to transfer further funds to them in the coming days for immediate emergency needs. Many of the affected villages and communities are directly linked to our ecosystem protection projects: Many rangers and their families have lost their homes.
The priority right now is to find the missing people and make sure all those that have survived are able to get access to shelter, food and clean water as quickly as possible.
In the medium term, extensive reconstruction work will be needed, in multiple areas, to assist our friends and partners and help them continue their critically important work of protecting the forest exosystems and all the incredible wildlife they support.
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Phone: 0041 52 354 32 32
Email: kommunikation@paneco.ch
