PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia: Indonesia’s president told survivors of last week’s devastating floods that help was arriving to those in need Monday as Asian governments scaled up their responses to a disaster that has left more than 1,000 dead in three countries.
Hundreds more are missing following flooding and landslides in the past week, which killed at least 469 people in Indonesia, 334 in Sri Lanka and 170 in Thailand, authorities said.
Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto pledged to rebuild infrastructure while visiting areas impacted by floods and landslides on Sumatra island that left thousands homeless and 474 people missing as of Monday.
Some areas of Indonesia remained unreachable Monday after the disaster damaged roads and downed communications lines, with residents in impacted areas relying on aircraft delivering supplies. Flooding displaced 290,700 people in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh provinces, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Prabowo, who visited North Sumatra on Monday and was expected to West Sumatra and Aceh during the day, said the government’s response is reaching those in need.
“We need to confront climate change effectively,” Prabowo told reporters after visiting survivors. “Local governments must take a significant role in safeguarding the environment and preparing for the extreme weather conditions that will arise from future climate change.”
Sri Lanka authorities said Monday that rescuers are still searching for 370 missing people. Nearly 148,000 people are housed in temporary shelters after being battered in the past week downpours that flooded homes, fields and roads and triggered landslides, primarily in the tea-growing central hill country.
In Thailand, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Saturday outlined recovery and compensation plans for the southern part of the country, where the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said severe flooding in 12 southern provinces affected more than 1.4 million households and 3.8 million people.
Flooding recovery efforts underway in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand as death tolls rise
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Flooding recovery efforts underway in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand as death tolls rise
- Hundreds more are missing following flooding and landslides in the past week, authorities say
- Some areas of Indonesia remained unreachable Monday after the disaster damaged roads and downed communications lines
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
