Caritas Indonesia Mobilizes Nationwide Solidarity After Flash Floods Claim Hundreds of Lives

In Hutagodang Village, South Tapanuli Regency of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, the smell of mud still hangs heavy in the air.

Among piles of logs stacked as high as an adult’s chest, a woman in a headscarf stands motionless on the ground that once held her home. “My house is gone…” she whispers, wiping her tears.

Behind her, her child stands clutching clothes still damp from the flood. Nothing is left except the garments on their bodies.

That heartbreaking scene bears silent witness to the ferocity of the flash flood that devastated this small village last week. Massive rocks, thick mud, and rushing logs crashed through without mercy, sweeping away dozens of houses until nothing remained.

A church that typically serves as a refuge for the faithful is now filled with mud, nearly unrecognizable.

Indonesian Caritas moves without waiting

A few days after the disaster, a small group wearing the Indonesian KWI’s Caritas Indonesia vests entered the village. Led by the its executive director  Fr. Fredy Rante Taruk Pr, they walked through the debris and greeted survivors one by one. “We came to ensure urgent needs are met. This place needs fast assistance,” this diocesan priest from Makassar Archdiocese in South Sulawesi Province tells RVA after seeing the condition firsthand.

Together with North Sumatra’s Sibolga Diocese, the Caritas Indonesia team distributed 150 food packages while preparing to set up a humanitarian service post. The post will include a public kitchen, medical services, and other basic necessities. “We hope this post becomes a place the survivors can rely on in the early days of recovery,” Father Taruk Pr added.

Solidarity from several Indonesian dioceses

Aid has been flowing in from various regions. Caritas of the Archdiocese of Medan sent 11 trucks of logistics to the affected areas in the Dioceses of Padang in West Sumatra Province as well as in Medan, and Sibolga in North Sumatra Province.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Surabaya in East Java Province has launched a humanitarian fundraising campaign through social media, an appeal personally delivered by the Bishop of Surabaya, Mgr. Agustinus Tri Budi Utomo. The call for solidarity was swiftly answered by the faithful and various communities across Indonesia.

Humanitarian assistance

Caritas Indonesia has recorded public donations totalling 1.8 billion IDR. The most needed assistance includes tents, tarpaulins, blankets, food supplies, boots, cooking utensils, and school materials.

Caritas Indonesia has publicly declared to refuse expired food, used clothing, or any form of unfit aid.

A massive disaster that claimed many lives

According to the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the flash floods and landslides across three provinces, Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, have claimed 914 lives.

Another 389 people remain missing and are being searched for by SAR teams.

Those numbers deepen the grief but also strengthen the wave of solidarity continuing to pour in. Amid the ruins, hope now grows through the swift action of volunteers.

Among the rubble, hope grows

As the late afternoon sun turns golden, the sound of pots and stoves begins to rise from the area designated as a public kitchen. Children who had previously sat in silence now start to run around, approaching volunteers distributing warm meals.

“May this assistance be a sign that they are not alone,” said Caritas Indonesia’s chief Fr. Taruk Pr, gazing at the vanished homes.

In Hutagodang Village, the road to recovery is long. But on that day, among the logs and wet soil, one certainty grew stronger: no one is left alone in their suffering.