Asia flood death toll surpasses 1,500 as calls grow to fight deforestation

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PADANG, Indonesia (AP) — Deaths from last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides in parts of Asia surged past 1,500 Thursday as rescue teams raced to reach survivors isolated by the disaster with hundreds of people still unaccounted for across the region.

The tragedy of so much death and destruction was compounded by warnings that decades of deforestation caused by unchecked development, mining and palm oil plantations may have worsened the devastation. Calls grew for the government to act.

“We need the government to investigate and fix forest management,” said Rangga Adiputra, a 31-year-old teacher whose home in West Sumatra was swept away. The hills above his village on the outskirts of Padang city had been scarred by illegal logging.

“We don’t want this costly disaster to happen again,” he said.

Authorities said 837 people were confirmed dead in Indonesia, 479 in Sri Lanka and 185 in Thailand, as well as three in Malaysia.

Many villages in Indonesia and Sri Lanka remained buried under mud and debris, with 861 people still unaccounted for in both countries.

Thousands reportedly faced severe shortages of food and clean water in cut off areas. The floods and landslides washed away roads and bridges and knocked out telecommunications, leaving many communities inaccessible.

Indonesian television showed images of huge amounts of felled timber carried downstream in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh provinces.

The leading Indonesian environmental group WALHI said that decades of deforestation — driven by mining, palm oil plantations, and illegal logging — stripped away natural defenses that once absorbed rainfall and stabilized soil.

“The disaster was not just nature’s fury, it was amplified by decades of deforestation,” said Rianda Purba, an activist with the group. “Deforestation and unchecked development have stripped Sumatra of its resilience.”

The group recorded more than 240,000 hectares (nearly 600,000 acres) of primary forest were lost in 2024 alone, leaving Sumatra’s small river basins dangerously exposed.

Another environmental group, Global Forest Watch, has said the flood-inundated Indonesian provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra have since 2000 lost 19,600 square kilometers (7,569 square miles) of forest, an area larger than the state of New Jersey.

“Unless restoration begins now, more lives will be lost,” Purba warned.

Massive piles of neatly cut timber lay scattered among the debris across Parkit Beach, a sight that stunned emergency crews deployed to the area.

“From their shape, it was clear these were not just trees torn out naturally by the flood, but timber that had been deliberately cut,” said a member of a clean-up crew, Neviana, who goes by a single name.

Another resident of Padang, Ria Wati, 38, observed the same.

“The logs carried by the floods weren’t the kind you get from a flash flood,” she said, “If old trees were uprooted, you would see roots and fragile bark. But these were clean, neatly cut pieces of wood … they looked like the result of illegal logging.”

President Prabowo Subianto pledged policy reforms after visiting flood-hit areas on Monday.

“We must truly prevent deforestation and forest destruction. Protecting our forests is crucial,” Prabowo said.

In Batang Toru, the worst-hit areas in North Sumatra, where seven companies operate, hundreds of hectares had been cleared for gold mining and energy projects, leaving slopes exposed and riverbeds choked with sediment. Rivers there were swollen with runoff and timber, while villages were buried or swept away.

Lawmakers called for the companies’ permits to be revoked.

Facing public outrage, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq announced an investigation into eight companies suspected of worsening the disaster. He said environmental permits will be reviewed and future assessments must factor in extreme rainfall scenarios.

“Someone must be held accountable,” he said.

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Karmini reported from Jakarta. Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed reporting.