Jakarta – Not only people are victims of flash floods and landslides in West Sumatra (Sumbar). Animals such as cats are also victims of this disaster. As reported by Antara, West Sumatra province (Sumbar) was surrounded by flash floods and landslides on Thursday (27/12), all parties were focused on rescuing and evacuating residents. Salmiati, a resident of Kampung Teleng, Padang Besi Village, Lubuk Kilangan District, Padang City, shows a different side. He was willing to go to every corner of the city just to search and find cats that were also swept away by flash floods and landslides. Scroll TO CONTINUE CONTENTS His concern for this cat began when he was still working as a courier for a shipping company. Salmiati was once delivering a package and passing by a garbage dump, she accidentally saw a cat meowing, as if asking for her help. “At first I didn’t want to save the cat, but after I left, my heart kept telling me to save it,” he said as reported by Antara, Sunday (7/12/2025). Almost all the cats found by Salmiati were sick, injured, and some even had tumors. With great compassion, he saved these poor animals, just like helping people. During the disaster that hit the city of Padang, this mother of two children rescued about 30 cats that were abandoned because they were swept away by the flood. He found the cats along the road, in houses affected by floods and landslides, and even in garbage dumps. He took dozens of orphaned cats to a shelter in Kampung Teleng area, Padang Besi Village, Lubuk Kilangan District. This shelter is quite remote and quite far from the busy city center. The exact location is at the end of a residential complex with a rocky road. In fact, the closest houses to residents of the shelter are about 10 meters away. During her 16 years of evacuating, rescuing and caring for abandoned and discarded street cats, Salmiati never expected more. Salmiati’s only dream is to be able to build a bigger and more suitable cat shelter. This is because shelters cannot currently be said to be representative of keeping these animals. He wants a shelter with a garden, open space, more adequate cat feeding areas and supported health facilities. “That’s all I hope, because it’s about feelings and the mind,” he said. Watch the video ‘The story of a cat in West Sumatra, trapped in a flood without food for a week’: (rdp/imk)