Over 1,600 dead in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand due to floods

At least 1,608 people have lost their lives due to the ongoing floods threatened by forecasts of rain in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand on Friday. Thailand updated its death toll to nearly 90. The total death toll in Thailand has risen to 276, with an estimated 4 million people affected by the bad weather. Many streets remain flooded in seven southern provinces. Although the government does not disclose the total number of missing persons, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated on Thursday that 367 people were reported missing in the country. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the most affected country by the cyclones in Southeast Asia, the death toll has risen to 846 on Friday, with 547 missing, nearly 2,700 injured, and around 3.5 million affected. Emergency teams are deployed in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra to distribute food and provide medical care, overcoming obstacles like flooded roads, collapsed bridges, and sediment-covered paths. In Sri Lanka, the morning count raised the death toll to 486 and reduced the number of missing persons to 341. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has issued an international appeal for the country, based on $6.2 million to assist the affected population, estimated at 1.8 million people. This Friday, a rainfall forecast threatens rescue and cleanup efforts in the affected areas. Over 1.1 million people have been displaced to shelters and safer places in these three countries, where the disaster has caused losses exceeding $12 billion in total. Additionally, new floods occurred Thursday night in Vietnam, in Lam Dong province, where authorities estimate about 2,000 houses were damaged by landslides, overflowing water, and fallen trees. The tropical storm and typhoon season is particularly harsh for these countries this year, with experts attributing the intensity to ocean warming, while the devastating impact is linked to deforestation or lack of urban planning, among other factors.