Bahorok refugees flee camps amid heavy rains

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Bahorok, North Sumatra

Hundreds of families left homeless after the recent devastating flood in North Sumatra fled their refugee camps on Sunday due to fears of a further disaster following two days of heavy rains.

However, others stayed at their camps in Bahorok subdistrict, Langkat regency, near where the flash flood killed at least 151 people on Nov. 2.

Alamsyah, a Bahorok resident, said the rain had caused the Bahorok river to rise one meter, which had scared the refugees.

"In the last two nights we have been facing a terrible situation. Many people cry hysterically and begin running as if the river has overflowed again," he told The Jakarta Post.

Speaking at the disaster relief post in Bukit Lawang, Bahorok, Alamsyah said the victims believed further floods could hit their villages again.

They had heard reports that two upstream dams could burst at anytime due to the heavy rain, he said.

Rescuers said on Sunday that the death toll in Bukit Lawang had reached 151.

Another 97 people are still missing, they added.

There was some confusion as to whether the official search would be halted.

Langkat administration secretary Masri Zein said the search was stopped on Sunday.

But he said efforts to clean up the disaster zone would continue to involve military and police officers, as well as local people.

However, Bahorok subdistrict head Jaya Sitepu said the search for more bodies would continue.

Last week, Langkat Regent Syamsul Arifin said local authorities had agreed to continue search efforts until all the missing were found.

Jaya said several private groups, including rescue teams from universities in North Sumatra, had offered assistance.

He said locals had also set up a team called United Friends, whose members included families of the victims, to help find the cause of the flood, widely blamed on rampant illegal logging.

He said the government's preliminary conclusion that the flood was a genuine natural disaster instead of a man-made disaster should be verified by local people.

"We want to find out ourselves what exactly caused the flood. It will satisfy us."

An investigation by the Leuser Management Unit (UML) concluded the flood was the indirect result of deforestation in Gunung Leuser National Park.

The UML is a European Union-funded organization comprising environmentalists and government institutions for the preservation of the Leuser ecosystem.

The conclusion was based on an analysis of video footage taken in Bukit Lawang several days after the disaster and a topographical map of Langkat covering 250,000 hectares of forest.

The footage revealed dozens of landslides in the upper reaches of the Bahorok river, which flows through Bahorok on the slopes of the Leuser park.

The mud from the landslides had flowed across several hills, located between 1,200 to 2,000 meters above sea level. Thousands of logs and trees had toppled along the riverbank and into the river.

The mud and trees created dozens of small dams and several large dams.

UML advisor Mike Griffiths said the dams had blocked the river and it was likely that they could no longer hold back the water during heavy rains a day before the flood.