South and Southeast Asia Flood Disaster Tops 1,500 Dead as New Rains Threaten

Overview

• Authorities report more than 1,500 deaths overall, with Indonesia at 776 dead and over 560 missing, Sri Lanka at 479 dead, Thailand at 267, and Malaysia at 2.
• Access to hard‑hit communities remains limited by destroyed roads, collapsed bridges, power cuts and downed communications, slowing rescues despite helicopters and boats.
• Indonesia has dispatched 34,000 tonnes of rice and 6.8 million liters of cooking oil, NGOs and militaries are delivering supplies, and Sri Lanka’s state of emergency includes a request for international aid and an estimated rebuild cost of up to $7 billion.
• Meteorologists attribute the extreme rainfall to a monsoon surge compounded by multiple tropical systems—Senyar, Koto and Ditwah—over unusually warm seas.
• Experts and officials link extensive forest loss and development in Sumatra, including Batang Toru, to faster runoff and unstable slopes, with probes into suspected illegal logging.