Nearly two weeks after devastating floods hit Indonesia’s Sumatra, Muslim worshippers in one hard-hit area were unable to access their local mosque on Friday, after thousands of uprooted trees and logs blocked the entrance.
The Darul Mukhlisin mosque and Islamic boarding school were surrounded by a massive pile of timber carried by torrential rains that inundated nearby rainforest. Residents said the mosque, once located beside a river, is now unusable after the waterway was transformed into mud and debris.
Villagers believe the structure absorbed much of the force of the flood, preventing further destruction downstream. Authorities say the disaster, one of the deadliest in northern Sumatra in recent years, has killed 995 people, left 226 missing and displaced nearly 890,000 others.
Officials have partly blamed the scale of damage on uncontrolled logging, with environmentalists warning that deforestation worsened flooding and landslides. President Prabowo Subianto, visiting affected areas, urged stronger forest protection and assured victims that recovery efforts were ongoing, though frustration continues to grow over the pace of aid delivery.
The Darul Mukhlisin mosque and Islamic boarding school were surrounded by a massive pile of timber carried by torrential rains that inundated nearby rainforest. Residents said the mosque, once located beside a river, is now unusable after the waterway was transformed into mud and debris.
Villagers believe the structure absorbed much of the force of the flood, preventing further destruction downstream. Authorities say the disaster, one of the deadliest in northern Sumatra in recent years, has killed 995 people, left 226 missing and displaced nearly 890,000 others.
Officials have partly blamed the scale of damage on uncontrolled logging, with environmentalists warning that deforestation worsened flooding and landslides. President Prabowo Subianto, visiting affected areas, urged stronger forest protection and assured victims that recovery efforts were ongoing, though frustration continues to grow over the pace of aid delivery.
