With extreme weather patterns wreaking carnage across Asia in recent weeks, His Holiness the Dalai Lama issued a public statement on Tuesday in which he expressed profound sadness and offered prayers and condolences for the suffering of millions affected by recent storms and floods that have claimed the lives of more 1,800 people.
Populations across South, Southeast and East Asia—including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam—are grappling with the devastating impact of weeks of tropical storms, heavy rains, and deadly floods.
Although much of the region experiences annual monsoons, scientists have noted that seasonal cyclones and storm systems are becoming longer and more intense, with powerful storms being reported across the planet with increasing frequency. Extreme weather across Asia in recent weeks has claimed a growing number of lives, with in excess of 1,800 people killed in floods and landslides, hundreds of others still missing, and more than 1.2 million people displaced.
The Tibetan spiritual leader’s message in full reads:
I am deeply saddened to learn that the recent torrential rains and storms in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other nearby regions have resulted in tragic loss of life and caused severe hardship for millions of people.
I offer my heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who have lost their lives, and I pray for the swift recovery of those who have been injured as a result of this natural disaster.
My prayers also for the success of the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts across all affected regions, that they may bring comfort and relief to as many people as possible.
With my prayers,
Dalai Lama
2 December 2025 (His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet)
According to official figures, recent floods and landslides have killed at least 1,824 people to date, including 744 reported in Indonesia, 410 in Sri Lanka, 283 in the Philippines, 263 in Thailand, 90 in Vietnam, and 14 in Malaysia. In affected regions, the authorities are racing to clear away debris in search of hundreds of people missing and unaccounted for. Across the region, well in excess of four million people have been affected, according to official statistics, with more than a million left homeless in Indonesia and Sri Lanka alone.
“Asia is very, very vulnerable to floods,” World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis said in a recent press statement. She noted that tropical cyclones such as Senyar, which brought “torrential rainfall and widespread flooding and landslides” across northern Sumatra in Indonesia, the Malaysian Peninsula, and southern Thailand, were rare so close to the Equator. “It’s not something that we see very often and it means the impacts are magnified because local communities . . . have no experience in this.” (United Nations)
Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, with some 218,000 people taking refuge in temporary shelters, and several countries calling on their militaries to help victims of devastating flooding. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has described the cyclone as the largest and most challenging natural disaster in Sri Lanka’s history.
More than 1.4 million people in Indonesia have been impacted, with an estimated 28,000 homes damaged following the impact of Cyclone Senyar. The damage and loss of life make this the worst natural disaster in Indonesia since the 2018 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.
Severe flooding in eight southern provinces of Thailand have affected about three million people.* The government has mobilized the military to evacuate patients from hospitals and rescue families who have stranded for days by rising floodwaters. The southern border city and commercial hub of Hat Yai, received 335 millimeters of rainfall on 21 November, the highest single-day deluge in 300 years, followed by further days of unrelenting downpours.
In Vietnam, which has felt the impact of 14 typhoons this year, more than 90 people were killed in November in floods and landslides from tropical storm Koto.
The Malaysian authorities are braced for further waves of flooding while 11,600 people remain in evacuation centers after severe flooding caused by Cyclone Senyar.
Just weeks earlier, Typhoon Ragasa, one of the most intense storms of the year, left a trail of destruction across northern portions of Luzon in the Philippines and Hualien County in Taiwan, before impacting Hong Kong, Macau, southern China, and Vietnam in late September. The storm caused widespread flooding, structural damage, power outages, and landslides, with at least 39 fatalities reported.
“The Asia-Pacific region faces the most intense and frequent tropical cyclone activity in the world,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told the Typhoon Committee (a joint body of the WMO and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific [UNESCAP]). “Record-breaking rainfall, storm surges and floods displace millions and cause billions of dollars in economic losses.” (World Meteorological Organization)
See more
His Holiness Offers Prayers for Victims of Storms in Asia (His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet)
Devastating rainfall in Asia claims hundreds of lives (World Meteorological Organization)
Asia: Lives upended by cyclones, ‘extreme’ rainfall on the rise, warn UN agencies (United Nations)
At least 1,250 people dead: What caused the devastating Asia floods? (Al Jazeera)
Deadly Asian floods are no fluke. They’re a climate warning, scientists say (Associated Press)
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