A plea from Indonesia: 'Help my country'
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The number of dead in the devastating floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has risen to more than 700. In addition, 500 people are still reported missing, with many feared buried under mud. Around one million people have been evacuated from their homes, with meaningful assistance still yet to reach hard-hit isolated areas. Newshour got through to one resident, a man called Lodewick Marpaung in north Sumatra. He pleaded for help. Also in the programme: US envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to the Kremlin - can he strike a deal on Ukraine? Also, Japan's new leader says she's giving up her own work-life balance - and everyone must 'work like a horse'. (Photo: A picture taken with a drone shows piles of wood that were swept away by the floodwaters in a flood-affected village in Sumatra, Indonesia, 1 December 2025. Floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Cyclone Senyar hit Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra provinces. Credit: Hotli Simanjuntak/ EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.6 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour, live from the BBC World Service in London. |
| 0:13.3 | I'm Rebecca Kesby. |
| 0:14.9 | Coming up later in the programme is the age of the music video now over. |
| 0:20.8 | And in a few minutes, we'll be hearing from our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. is the age of the music video now over. |
| 0:35.2 | And in a few minutes, we'll be hearing from our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, President Trump's envoy, Steve Whitkoff, and Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are due to hold talks with President Putin in Moscow today about the war in Ukraine. |
| 0:36.0 | So we'll come to that. |
| 0:38.1 | First, though, let's begin with the continuing fallout of Southeast Asia's catastrophic flooding caused by torrential rains and |
| 0:43.9 | storms, which have claimed the lives of hundreds across the region, from Sri Lanka, |
| 0:49.7 | through Thailand and Malaysia to Indonesia. The northwestern island of Sumatra in Indonesia is particularly badly affected. |
| 0:57.9 | The authorities say at least one million people have been displaced. |
| 1:02.7 | We're told some areas have yet to receive any proper aid. |
| 1:06.6 | Even communication is difficult there. |
| 1:09.2 | Well, we managed to get through to one man living in North Sumatra, Ludwig Ma Paung. |
| 1:14.8 | He sent us some videos and they are pretty shocking. |
| 1:18.2 | Roads turned to raging rivers. |
| 1:26.6 | You can see large trees broken and debris from houses reduced to match sticks flowing at great speed |
| 1:34.1 | past other houses totally submerged in mud. |
| 1:37.8 | He also sent a video of people crying over the bodies of two people. |
| 1:42.9 | One looks to be a child. |
| 1:52.2 | Grieving people there. Someone is attempting to wash away the mud from their faces with the floodwater. |
| 1:59.1 | Well, Ludwig told us he didn't speak much English, |
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