Three years after the tsunami

Three years to the day…the same region has just suffered terrible torrential rains, landslides and floods.

Rescue workers and police were struggling to reach the affected areas as roads were cut off by floods and mud, said provincial police spokesman Syahroni.

By late afternoon, 36 bodies had been recovered while 30 others were still buried under thick mud in Karang Anyar district near the banks of the Bengawan Solo river, said Heru, head of the local disaster coordinator agency…

“It is difficult for any help to reach the area, so the local teams are left on their own,” said Julianto, another official with the provincial government.

“The landslides took us by surprise. This is the first time in the last 25 years anything of this scale occurred here in Central Java.”

Thousands of villagers in areas who lost their homes to floods or landslides have moved into temporary shelters in buildings and tents set up by emergency response teams, Julianto said.

Catholic Relief Service is one of the many still tending to the tremendous need over there after the tsunami. They need much more now.