'Is she alive?': Indonesian man's hopes of finding missing wife fade after flood disaster

PALEMBAYAN, Indonesia (Reuters) – In the days since cyclone-induced floods and landslides battered Indonesia's Sumatra island, Abdul Ghani has been carrying around a picture of his missing wife, showing it to everyone he meets.

The 57-year-old Ghani, who makes a living selling soft drinks, has spent days trudging along the mud-laden roads of his town of Palembayan looking everywhere for Marsoni, his wife of 25 years.

After the couple's only child passed away seven years ago, Marsoni is all that he has left.

And his hopes of finding her are fading.

"Is she alive? I don't think she is," he said. "But I hope they find her body, even if it's just a piece of her hand."

Ghani was out working on Friday afternoon when the rain started picking up. Before he could reach his home by the river, residents told him six houses including his own had been swept away.

The first person he thought of was his wife. Ghani has been carrying a large picture of her ever since, showing it to passers by and the rescue teams working in the ruins of collapsed buildings, where voices are drowned out by the loud hum of excavators.

"I came home from work ... everywhere was like a river," he said. "Everything was flattened. I was broken."

As of Tuesday, the disaster had killed 686 people in Indonesia, with 476 people missing. More than one million people were evacuated.

The devastation in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand follows months of adverse and deadly weather in Southeast Asia, including typhoons that have lashed the Philippines and Vietnam and caused frequent and prolonged flooding elsewhere.

Holding back tears, Ghani said he only wants his wife to have a proper burial.

"I had a wife, we loved each other," he said. "No house, no wife. Where do I go next?"

604 KILLED IN FLOODS, LANDSLIDE

The death toll from floods and landslides across three provinces on Indonesia's Sumatra Island has risen to 604, with 464 others still listed as missing, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said on Monday.

Search and rescue operations are continuing at full speed across affected areas, the agency said.

About 570,000 people have been displaced in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh. Roads remain buried or washed out, and communication networks are down in many districts, forcing relief supplies to be delivered mainly by air, according to the agency.

In North Sumatra, the hardest-hit province, homes are inundated with mud and debris, and residents have been without power or phone access for nearly a week. Heavy machinery has been used to clear blocked routes since early Monday, but access to some villages remains impossible.

One of the region's most important routes, through Aidan Koting in North Tapanuli, now lies completely severed. The road normally links several districts and leads to the port city of Sibolga, which has suffered severe damage from flash floods and landslides after days of relentless rain.

Flash floods first swept through the region almost a week ago, destroying homes, washing away roads and knocking down power lines.

Residents said they have lost everything and are desperate for help.

"We don't know what to do. Please help us repair our home, just so we have somewhere to sleep at night," said Junaida Pakpahan, a local resident

Pakpahan has been staying at a neighbor's home after hers was engulfed by mud. With electricity and phone networks down for the past six days, many residents are unable to contact their families.

"My child is in Sibolga, and we don't know if she is well now," she said.

"Home appliances, clothes, my bed -- we can't use any of it. Everything went underwater," said Erwin hutagalung, a truck driver now sheltering with his toddler.

Residents said food, water, medicine and clothing are in urgent need.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said on Monday that the government's rescue and relief efforts are being advanced with full force.

He stressed that Indonesia must respond effectively to climate change and that local governments should play a greater role in environmental protection and in preparing for future extreme weather events.