Catastrophic floods and landslides across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia have left more than 1,400 people dead, with rescue teams still racing to reach isolated communities cut off by destroyed roads, power outages, and ongoing landslides. Indonesia has suffered the worst devastation, with at least 753 confirmed deaths. Sri Lanka has reported 465 fatalities, though President Anura Kumara Dissanayake cautioned that the final toll may be higher. Thailand has recorded 185 deaths, and Malaysia three.
More than 1,000 people are still missing across the region. As teams work to dig survivors out from mud and debris, the floods are exposing stark economic inequalities. Indonesia and Thailand — both middle-income countries with stronger fiscal capacity — have been able to deploy military aircraft, emergency funds, and large-scale rescue operations. Sri Lanka, however, is responding under far more constrained conditions due to its ongoing economic crisis, limited foreign reserves, and weakened public services. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya has appealed to diplomats for international support to bolster relief and reconstruction efforts.
The country remains under an IMF bailout, restricting its ability to spend foreign currency even as it faces a disaster of this scale. In Indonesia, authorities say the destruction across Sumatra — triggered by relentless rains and an unusual tropical storm — marks the country’s deadliest natural disaster since the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 4,300 people. Entire villages in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Aceh have been wiped out, with around 650 people still unaccounted for.
The National Disaster Management Agency reports that more than 1.5 million Indonesians have been displaced, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, and hospitals overwhelmed. The government has deployed three hospital ships to support care in the worst-hit areas. With rescue operations ongoing and rainfall still posing new risks, the humanitarian needs across the region continue to grow — and the full scale of the tragedy is still coming into focus.
