Heavy Rains in Asia: Support for Victims, Flood-Control Measures Urgently Needed

Editorial

15:41 JST, December 7, 2025

Southeast Asia and South Asia have been hit by torrential rains, which caused extensive damage. It is hoped that the governments of various countries will make every effort toward rescue and search operations.

Since November, there has been a series of floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in three countries — Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The total death toll in these nations has surpassed 1,600, and hundreds of people are missing. The scale of the damage wrought by nature’s fury is horrifying.

On Sumatra Island in western Indonesia, which has suffered the most human casualties among disaster-hit areas, more than 890 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds of thousands have taken shelter. Due to the lack of clean water, the risk of infectious diseases is rising. This situation threatens the lives and health of people, including the elderly and children, who are particularly vulnerable.

Support for disaster-hit people cannot wait any longer. However, relief efforts have reportedly struggled, as many bridges and roads have been cut off due to factors such as landslides.

The administration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has not accepted large-scale international aid, saying the country can handle the situation on its own. Given the severity of the damage, however, shouldn’t the country seek assistance from the international community?

Some have argued that the government’s inaction on illegal deforestation for mining development has undermined the land’s capacity for water retention, leading to wider damage.

More than 600 people have also been confirmed dead in Sri Lanka, and more than 170 in Thailand.

Ahead of other countries, Japan dispatched medical personnel from the Japan Disaster Relief team to Sri Lanka and provided Thailand with emergency relief supplies such as tents and blankets. Japan should not limit its support to these actions, but continue seamless support with an eye on these countries’ recovery and reconstruction from the disaster as well.

The latest torrential rains appear to have resulted from a combination of multiple factors, including La Nina, a phenomenon in which sea surface temperatures in the Pacific off South America are lower than normal.

Above all, global warming is impacting the climate in a variety of ways around the world. The frequency of extreme weather events is likely to increase in the future. Japan cannot afford to view this issue as just someone else’s problem.

Despite having lower carbon dioxide emissions than developed nations, developing countries have been particularly vulnerable to incidents attributable to global warming, such as downpours and flooding, as they lack adequate flood-control infrastructure. The reduction in their water retention capacity due to forest decline can also be said to have exacerbated the severity of the damage.

It can be said that this unjust reality has been laid bare by this disaster.

Discussions were held just recently about funding to mitigate the damage caused by global warming, during the 30th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP30, in Brazil last month.

Developed countries, including Japan, should not hesitate to cooperate in establishing flood-control infrastructure in developing countries.

 (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 7, 2025)