Indonesia and Sri Lanka are hardest hit, with military deployed to help survivors

The death toll from flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,100 on Dec 1, as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed the military to help survivors.

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Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the entire island of Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.

Much of the region is now in its monsoon season, but climate change is producing more extreme rain events and turbocharging storms.

The relentless rain left residents clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat or helicopter, and cut entire villages off from assistance.

Arriving in North Sumatra on Dec1, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said “the worst has passed, hopefully”. The government’s “priority now is how to immediately send the necessary aid”, with particular focus on several isolated villages, he added.

Mr Prabowo has come under increasing pressure to declare a national emergency in response to flooding and landslides that have killed at least 593 people, with nearly 470 still missing.

Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has not publicly called for international assistance.

The death toll is the highest in a natural disaster in Indonesia since a massive 2018 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.