PADANG(National Times)- Broth, spice, and beef chunks simmered in rows of large pans as tens of women in Indonesia’s city of Padang, West Sumatra Province cooked rendang – a local cuisine of beef and traditional spices slow-cooked for hours, to send to victims of the recent deadly floods that hit the country’s largest island. Head of the West Sumatra Family Welfare Movement Harneli Bahar said the kitchen has managed to cook 2.5 tonnes of beef to make the dish, all donated by locals. The women, Bahar said, have been cooking non-stop for six days. “They’ll last 3 to 6 months. It’s ready to eat, (and) has no preservatives,” Bahar said. “We’re aiming to ship the rendang on Monday or Tuesday to Aceh and Medan.” Originating from Indonesia’s western Sumatran highlands of Minangkabau, the meat dish is traditionally prepared by the Minang people and served as a wartime food as early as the 8th century as it keeps well in the humid tropical climate. The popular dish served all over Indonesia was later brought to neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei by migrants, making it a popular food in the region. Bahar said the locals were moved by social media videos of victims receiving little aid in badly affected areas, such as the high altitude region of Sumatra’s Aceh province which was cut off from supplies and aid by landslides, forcing residents to trek for hours through cold weather and muddy roads to access food. “Even though we (in West Sumatra) still lost 246 lives and 80 are still missing, but in Aceh Tamiang thousands were affected,” Bahar said tearfully. “It triggers our empathy, our sense of family and citizenship, and it’s those feelings that make us care.” The death toll from the cyclone-induced floods and landslides, which destroyed houses and forced people into evacuation centres on Sumatra in late November, reached 1,030 as of last week, with 206 people still missing, according to official data. Local government officials on Sumatra have called on the national government in Jakarta to declare a national emergency to free up additional funds for rescue-and-relief efforts.