Aid Flows Into Cyclone-Struck Indonesia As Death Toll Rises

Two Indonesian navy ships packed with aid have arrived in a cyclone-ravaged section of the archipelago, with the disaster’s death toll rising to nearly 180 people.

The vessels docked in hard-hit Lembata and Adonara island with hospital ships also en route eastern Indonesia where thousands have been left homeless and dozens are still missing.

The navy vessels are packed with food, including rice and noodles, as well as blankets and other materials for some of the region’s more than 20,000 evacuees.

Torrential rains from Tropical Cyclone Seroja, turned small communities into wastelands of mud and uprooted trees, causing thousands to flee to shelters amid widespread power blackouts.

Sunday’s storm swept buildings in some villages down a mountainside and to the shore of the ocean on Lembata, where one of the aid ships arrived Thursday.

A regional naval base chief Kompiang Aribawa said another ship will arrive later today carrying military personnel who will be deployed to help people in the aftermath of the disaster.

Earlier, Indonesia’s disaster agency chief said a cargo plane had left Jakarta for the disaster-struck region with about 100,000 face masks, virus test kits, as well as prepared food and blankets for survivors.

Rescuers have spent the past few days using diggers and shovels to extract mud-covered corpses from the debris.

Fatal landslides and flash floods are common across the Indonesian archipelago during the rainy season.