Climate catastrophe: floods devastate South and Southeast Asia

By Onara Perera

A wave of severe floods and landslides have swept across a number of Asian countries, claiming thousands of lives. The distressing effects have been witnessed in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines and even marked as some of the most devastating regional climate disasters in recent decades. These nations have experienced crippling infrastructure that has displaced entire communities, highlighting the growing vulnerability under increasing economic and environmental pressures. As the disaster unfolds, urgent questions about what this means for the future of vulnerable communities, recovery processes and where responsibility lies in a world increasingly shaped by climate-driven inequality have undoubtedly intensified. 

From the onset, South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. Historically, monsoon patterns have shaped agricultural cycles and community life. However, in the past two decades, climate change has dramatically altered these weather systems. Rising global temperatures have increased rainfall, raised sea levels, and created conditions for cyclones in areas once considered too close to the equator for major storm formation.

Although flooding has long been a feature of the region’s climate, the unprecedented frequency and destructive power of these recent disasters highlight the scientific consensus that industrially driven climate change is escalating such hazards.

Across Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, critical infrastructure is collapsing under the strain of severe flooding. Cyclone Senyar in Indonesia tore through many coastal towns with an unmatched ferocity, while Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka has brought in weeks of unrelenting rain that triggered deadly mudslides, isolating rural villages. 

Indonesia’s Batang Kusuma Bridge and Sri Lanka’s Kaduwela–Kadawatha expressway segment are just two of the many areas that have been forced to close, sparking widespread transport disruptions. These failures, combined with inundated roads and damaged substations, have contributed to extensive power outages and the displacement of thousands. In Thailand, landslides and fallen trees brought down power lines in Chiang Mai and Lampang, causing multi-day blackouts, leaving tens of thousands of households without electricity. 

“It rains a lot here but never like this. Usually, rain stops around September but this year it has been really bad. Every region of Sri Lanka has been affected, and our region has been the worst impacted,” said Shanmugavadivu Arunachalam, a 59-year-old schoolteacher in the mountain town of Hatton in Sri Lanka’s Central Province

Without rapid, coordinated action, the region will remain trapped in a cycle of disaster, recovery, and renewed vulnerability.

Implications of such infrastructure failures lay heavy on vulnerable communities across these nations. Recurrent themes include the difficulties of accessing healthcare, maintaining frontline services and the challenges of community healthcare. Power outages have also significantly disrupted electricity supplies as well as phone networks, significantly limiting the amount of support available to vulnerable communities. Additionally, it is estimated that the death toll as a result of these floods has surpassed 1,750, with many people still missing. Such staggering figures illustrate the severity of the crisis and highlights how overwhelmed search-and-rescue operations have become.

“The human toll from cyclones Ditwah and Senyar is staggering,” said Maja Vahlberg, a technical adviser with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. “Unfortunately, it is the most vulnerable people who experience the worst impacts and have the longest road to recovery.”

Beyond immediate response, these floods underscore the urgent need for stronger legal and policy frameworks to protect people in disasters. Future risks and community vulnerability are expected to intensify as climate change accelerates, with low-income and rural populations facing the greatest exposure due to inadequate housing, limited early-warning systems, and insufficient social protections. Therefore, strengthening climate-risk mapping into development planning and expanding community-based resilience programs will be essential to reduce long-term harm.

The outcomes of COP30 further heightens this imperative. With countries adopting stronger commitments on adaptation finance, loss-and-damage support, and climate-resilient development pathways, governments now face an open opportunity to take responsibility and translate these pledges into enforceable national policies. If implemented effectively, these agreements could help ensure that future climate disasters do not repeatedly push vulnerable communities into crisis but instead, drive a transition toward safer and more resilient societies.

The floods sweeping across Asia clearly underlines that climate change is reshaping risk faster than governments are preparing for it. With COP30 signalling stronger global commitments, the challenge now is ensuring they translate into effective protections on the ground. Without rapid, coordinated action, the region will remain trapped in a cycle of disaster, recovery, and renewed vulnerability.

Image: Lâm Trần/ Pexels