People inspect buildings damaged by a flash flood in Agam, West Sumatra, Indonesia, on May 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Rescuers on May 14 searched in rivers and the rubble of devastated villages for bodies, and whenever possible, survivors of flash floods that hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island over the weekend.

Monsoon rains and a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi caused rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight Saturday.

Also read | Indonesia flood death toll rises to 41 with 17 missing

The floods swept away people and 79 homes and submerged hundreds of houses and buildings, forcing more than 3,300 residents to flee to temporary government shelters, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.

Mr. Muhari said 50 bodies had been pulled from mud and rivers by Tuesday, mostly in worst-hit Agam and Tanah Datar districts, while rescuers are searching for 27 people who are reportedly missing.

Television reports showed rescue personnel using jackhammers, circular saws, farm tools and sometimes their bare hands, digging desperately in Agam district where roads were transformed into murky brown rivers and villages covered by thick mud, rocks, and uprooted trees.

Scores of rescue personnel were searching through a river around the Anai Valley Waterfall area in Tanah Datar district where tons of mud, rocks and trees were left from flash floods.

Rescuers were focused on finding four people from a group of seven that were swept away with their cars. Three other bodies were pulled out on Monday, said Abdul Malik, who heads the Search and Rescue Office in Padang, the provincial capital.

“With many missing and some remote areas still unreachable, the death toll was likely to rise,” Mr. Malik said.

Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.

The weekend disaster came just two months after heavy rains triggered flash floods and a landslide in West Sumatra, killing at least 26 people and leaving 11 others missing.

A surprise eruption of Mount Marapi late last year killed 23 climbers. The mountain’s sudden eruptions are difficult to predict because the source is shallow and near the peak, according to Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.

Marapi has been active since an eruption in January 2024 that caused no casualties. It is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

By his own admission, Gibran Rakabuming Raka was a “nobody” a few months before Indonesia’s elections.

Now, the eldest son of President Joko Widodo looks set to become the country’s youngest-ever vice president.

Mr. Gibran’s meteoric rise to running mate of president-in-waiting Prabowo Subianto, who declared victory last week, was fuelled by his father’s wild popularity.

“Three months ago I was a nobody. I thank Sir Prabowo who has given room for young people like me,” Mr. Gibran, 36, told a packed arena in the capital Jakarta after polls closed on February 14.

“I believe these high figures were because of the young people.”

Official results show Defence Minister Prabowo’s ticket winning a majority with more than two-thirds of votes counted. The final result is due next month.

Mr. Gibran’s success in the polls has raised questions over the influence of Mr. Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, with critics accusing him of seeking to install a political dynasty before he leaves office.

Growing up Mr. Gibran was set to follow in his father’s furniture salesman footsteps after studying in Singapore and Australia, but he moved into catering and created a business selling traditional Indonesian dishes.

He first stepped into politics while his father was serving as president in 2021, winning the mayorship of Central Java’s Surakarta city — Mr. Jokowi’s old job.

Mr. Gibran ran on behalf of his father’s ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) but later turned his back on it to run with Mr. Prabowo, an ex-general accused of atrocities under the rule of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s.

Mr. Jokowi, barred from a third term, leaves office in October, but the idea of another Widodo carrying on his policies has broad appeal in the country.

Indonesia enjoyed steady growth over his two terms and Mr. Jokowi is enjoying near-record approval ratings, so his tacit support strapped an election rocket to the Prabowo-Gibran ticket.

“When people see Gibran, they will see Jokowi,” said Ujang Komarudin, a political analyst from Jakarta-based Al Azhar University.

But “the big, strategic matters will be determined by Prabowo,” he added.

‘Nepotism is back’

Mr. Gibran’s business and property investments made him a millionaire, according to a 2020 disclosure to the election commission, way above the wealth of most Indonesians.

Critics accuse him of lacking policy ideas and attempting to mask his shortcomings by demeaning opponents and brushing off questions with one-word answers or jokes that fail to hit the mark.

“As a V-P he should be talking about policies,” said Ika Idris, political expert at Monash data and democracy research hub in Jakarta.

“From the way he communicates, he’s not mature enough.”

But in a country where more than half of around 204 million voters are Gen-Zers or millennials, some were attracted to the idea of Mr. Gibran representing young Indonesians in government.

“I’ve heard some good things about Gibran and I voted for him because he’s young, around our age,” said Ester Giay, 29, who works at a foreign diplomatic mission in Jakarta.

“I think, I hope, he’d be good since he’s gonna kinda represent younger people, or our generation.”

When Mr. Jokowi rose to power in 2014, he did so appealing to people as a political outsider from humble Javan beginnings.

But his critics say he and Mr. Gibran are acting like previous leaders in a country long known for its dynastic politics, who have installed relatives into powerful positions to retain their influence.

“I think it’s a combination of his personal desire and what his parents want,” said political analyst Ujang.

Mr. Jokowi’s brother-in-law, then-constitutional court chief justice, changed the rules in October that had barred candidates below the age of 40 from running for high office.

In the event that 72-year-old Mr. Prabowo steps down or is unable to carry out his duties, lawmakers and regional representatives would have three days to swear in Mr. Gibran and two months to choose his V-P.

Observers believe the political princeling is likely already preparing for a presidential run in 2029.

“Once again who you know matters more than one’s merit,” said a staffer from a rival presidential campaign, on condition of anonymity.

“It shows that nepotism is back with a bang in Indonesia.”

A shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no damage or casualties immediately reported.

The tremor hit at 9:43 p.m. local time (1443 GMT) at a depth of 9.9 kilometres, according to the USGS.

Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) reported no immediate tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks. It initially reported a magnitude of 6.3.

“I was having a good sleep (when the earthquake jolted). I jumped out of bed immediately,” said Qamariah, a 41-year-old housewife in Central Sulawesi’s Malei village.

“It felt like being shaken as if rice was being sifted. It went up and then down. It was really strong because I lived close to the epicentre. It lasted for about 5 seconds,” she told AFP.

She said the power was out in her area so she could not see if there was damage.

“I am outside (my house) right now, with family and my neighbours,” she added.

Video obtained by AFP showed panicking people in Central Sulawesi’s Lambonga village gathered in groups outside of their homes as they sought safety in fear of aftershocks.

“As of now, there have been no reports of damage and casualties caused by the earthquake,” the Palu Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

“The residents of Balesang coastal village in Pabean, Donggala regency, have evacuated to higher ground, with the majority leaving their homes,” it added, referring to an area in Central Sulawesi.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi island in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.

And in 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.

In November last year, a 5.6-magnitude quake hit the Southeast Asian nation’s Java island, killing 602 people.

Most of the victims of that earthquake were killed when buildings collapsed or in landslides triggered by the tremor.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s Sumatra island in April, shaking homes of panicked residents but causing no casualties or damage.