As severe weather continues to rage, more than a thousand people are dead, while millions are affected across vast swathes of Southeast Asia and South Asia. In Sri Lanka, all 25 districts have reported damage of varying degrees. In Indonesia, illegal logging has contributed to soil erosion, making the devastation worse.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – A severe weather emergency remains in place in many parts of Asia, especially the southern and southeastern parts of the continent.

More than a thousand people have reportedly died so far, with hundreds missing, and hundreds of thousands displaced. And the toll continues to climb.

In Sri Lanka, the latest data from the government’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) confirm an extremely serious situation, with all 25 of the country’s districts affected and the death toll standing at 410.

Flooding and landslides have affected about 1.4 million people (407,594 families), as the severe weather continues to rage across much of the island.

According to an official with the Department of Meteorology, precipitation is expected throughout the month, driven by winds and rains brought by the northeast monsoon, which remains active.

The devastation is the worst since late December 2004, when a tsunami struck Sri Lanka, killing some 31,000 people and displaced more than a million.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 180,000 people (51,000 families) are sheltering in 1,094 government-run reception centres, while search and rescue operations for the missing continue.

Cyclone Ditwah struck with devastating force on 28 November, before moving back over the Bay of Bengal, crossing the northern part of the island the following day, causing some of the worst flooding Sri Lanka has seen since 2000.

Gampaha, Colombo, Puttalam, and Mannar, as well as Trincomalee and Batticaloa in the Eastern Province are the most affected districts. Deadly landslides also occurred in the central hill region, causing extensive damage to large parts of Kandy, Badulla, and Matale.

The hardest-hit sector in these devastated districts is agriculture, which, after long supporting Sri Lanka's economy, is now on its knees, significantly contributing to the country's economic collapse, while people face economic and financial pressure on a scale never seen before.

OCHA’s initial assessments reported 15,000 homes destroyed, more than 200 roads made impassable, and at least 10 bridges damaged, while several lines and sections of the railway network and the national electricity grid have been affected.

Northern districts like Jaffna also report severe disruptions to electricity, mobile communications, and transportation networks, with entire villages cut off.

Access to drinking water remains a major concern, with several areas reporting limited or no supplies.

Flooding along the Kelani River, which flows through Colombo and the surrounding low-lying areas, continues to hinder access and disrupt the flow of information from affected communities, complicating relief and assistance operations.

Given the situation, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency to accelerate relief and aid, committing his government to rebuilding the country with the crucial contribution of international assistance.

“We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history. Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before,” he said in a national address last night.”

"All those who died are not numbers to us,” he added. “Every life has a name, a face and a story. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of all those who died. It is not limited to condolences. While we cannot give those families back those lives, we are committed to giving them everything else.”

Meanwhile, the first shipments of foreign aid have arrived in the past few hours.

In the central town of Kotmale, about 90 km northeast of Colombo, an Indian Air Force helicopter rescued 24 people, including a pregnant woman and a man in a wheelchair.

Pakistan has also sent rescue teams, while Japan has sent an assessment team and promised further support.

A serious emergency has also developed Indonesia, where public outrage is mounting over floods that have affected forested areas and residential areas alike, the effects of which have likely been amplified by human activity.

In North Sumatra, the most affected areas include the provincial capital of Medan, the regency of Central Tapanuli, and the city of Sibolga. In Aceh, the most affected regencies are Bener Meriah, Central Aceh, Gayo Lues, and Singkil. In West Sumatra, seven districts and cities have been affected, but the worst damage was reported in Padang Pariaman Regency.

Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB) continues to update the death toll from floods and landslides in Sumatra, which reached 631 deaths this morning, plus 472 missing, 2,600 injured, at least 3.2 million people affected, and one million displaced.

For the government, the main cause of the floods and landslides is Cyclone Senyar, which crossed the Indonesian archipelago between 19 and 28 November.

Major intercity transport routes are still disrupted, compounded by large-scale power outages and logistics disruptions. However, residents suspect a deeper cause, namely severe forest damage linked to illegal logging and mining in the highlands.

In Aceh, residents see this disaster as far more devastating than the tsunami of 21 years ago, as the affected area is more extensive.

Furthermore, the thousands of logs carried by flash floods raise an urgent question: beyond natural factors, what human activities have transformed the highland forests into barren lands?

Satellite images reveal that much of the land has long been deforested due to large-scale mining and logging, which have stripped the upper watershed of vegetation.

Another alarming sign is the appearance of wild animals such as tigers seeking refuge in residential areas, where many residents have been forced to remain on rooftops to avoid drowning.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has said it is ready to investigate whether widespread illegal logging contributed to the floods and landslides.

The Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH), composed of the AGO, national police, army, and the Ministry of Forestry, is examining whether the causes are entirely natural or amplified by human activities, particularly large-scale deforestation.

“We will examine all information circulating in public,” AGO spokesperson Anang Supriatna said Monday. “This must be studied to determine whether the floods were caused solely by natural factors or if illegal logging played a role.”

Legal action will be taken if investigators uncover deliberate actions that worsened environmental destruction.

(Melani Manel Perera and Mathias Hariyadi contributed to this article)

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• indonesia
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• flooding
• landslides
• natural disasters