On Monday morning a flash flood hit the Indonesian village of Bukit
Lawang, North Sumatra. The village is an orang-utan rehabilitation
centre, about 60 miles from the provincial capital of Medan, a popular
tourist destination for jungle trekking and wildlife spotting.

The floods, caused in part by illegal logging of the national park,
home to endangered leopards, orang-utan, tigers and elephants, are
said to have destroyed 90% of the buildings in the village, and killed
approximately 200 people, battered by logs and force of the water.
There is said to be almost nothing left of the popular tourist
destination, with only a few buildings on higher land left standing,
and with many people left homeless, almost every inhabitant having
lost family members.

As a result we are trying to raise money for those left homeless and
destitute by the flooding in the area, which was entirely dependent on
tourism, and with average monthly incomes of around $40, few people
had any savings, and none would have had insurance.

All donations gratefully received at
http://www.bukitlawangfloodappeal.com

More pictures (currently 67) at

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=e...&e=1&t=&prev=2

plus news story

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ndonesia_flood

list of names of dead (in Indonesian)
http://www.analisadaily.com

For anyone who has friends in bukit lawang, or who was planning to go
there on holiday, please send the money you would have spent to help
the victims of the flood which has destroyed the village.