Indonesia flood death toll surpasses 700

The number of people killed by floods and landslides in Indonesia has increased to 708.

Indonesia’s disaster agency announced this at a press conference late on Tuesday night.

The agency said 708 people had been killed since last week, a figure lower than the 753 reported on its website earlier in the day. It did not give a reason for the discrepancy.

Close to 900 people have been killed in floods and landslides that have wreaked havoc in Indonesia, and, which follow months of adverse and deadly weather in Southeast Asia, including successive typhoons that struck the Philippines and Vietnam and added to frequent and prolonged flooding elsewhere.

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The Indonesian disaster agency said teams were prioritising distributing aid via land, sea and air, clearing blocked roads and repairing damaged infrastructure.

“We do hope that we can speed up the logistics distribution,” spokesperson Abdul Muhari told Reuters.

The Star