Below is an article published by The Jakarta Post:

The European Commission (EC) has allocated US$1.3 million through its humanitarian aid department (ECHO) to help some 70,000 people affected by the floods that hit several areas in Aceh and North Sumatra in December last year.

ECHO's Bangkok regional support office information assistant, Alastair Punch, said the aid will provide relief to people in areas very difficult to reach, such as those in the inner highlands.

"The EC humanitarian response will mainly focus on the provision of drinking water, rehabilitation of water and sanitation systems as well as support to logistics and emergency restoration of livelihoods," he told The Jakarta Post from Bangkok in a telephone interview.

Punch said ECHO's field offices in Banda Aceh and Jakarta were now monitoring the situation closely, and the organization would appoint partners for project implementation based on their capacity and established presence in the region.

EC representatives in Jakarta said that because access to some isolated areas is still extremely difficult, it will prioritize the emergency rehabilitation of roads and bridges.

"The emergency restoration of livelihoods also appears to be a priority since in some areas up to 100 percent of cultivated fields have been washed away by the floods or covered by mud," EC Jakarta said in a press release.

It added that the geographical areas targeted through the operations were the ones that had received less assistance so far, and those not targeted by other donors.

In late December, heavy downpours flooded vast areas of Aceh and North Sumatra. Earlier that month, areas in both provinces had been hit by three earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.9 and 6.1 on the Richter scale.

The EC said that the landslides filled the rivers with debris and vegetation, bursting the river banks when torrential rains struck and leading to disastrous floods which brought widespread destruction to basic infrastructure such as roads and bridges.