PADANG, Indonesia -- The death toll from last week's catastrophic floods and landslides in parts of Asia surged past 1,500 Thursday as rescue teams raced to reach survivors isolated by the disaster with hundreds of people still unaccounted for across the region.

The latest figure came as meteorologists warned of renewed rainfall across North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh in coming days, sparking fears of further devastation in areas already reeling from deadly floods.

"We need the government to investigate and fix forest management," said Rangga Adiputra, a 31-year-old teacher whose home in West Sumatra was swept away. The hills above his village on the outskirts of Padang city had been scarred by illegal logging.

"We don't want this costly disaster to happen again," he said.

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