Indonesian hamlet swept away by floods

Dozens of families used to live in Sukamaju hamlet in Indonesia's Aceh province, making a living farming palm trees and raising livestock, but since deadly floods and landslides hit the region, much of the settlement has been swept away, leaving behind piles of mud and tree trunks. Indonesia will revoke more than 20 forestry permits across the country, the forestry minister said Monday, after deadly floods and landslides devastated parts of the northwestern island of Sumatra.

Environmentalists and experts have pointed to the role forest loss played in flash flooding and landslides that this month killed more than 1,000 people and washed torrents of mud into villages.