South and Southeast Asia Floods: A humanitarian crisis unfolding

In recent days, intense monsoon rains and a series of powerful storms have caused widespread flooding and landslides across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.

Rivers have burst their banks, entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and families have had to flee at short notice as water levels rose rapidly. Tragically, more than 1,400 people have lost their lives, with many still unaccounted for and millions affected across the region. Survivors are now struggling with damaged infrastructure, contaminated water sources, limited access to food and shelter, and the difficult task of rebuilding their lives in the aftermath. 

Red Cross and Red Crescent on the ground

Local Red Cross and Red Crescent teams are working around the clock to reach affected communities, often navigating submerged roads or landslide-blocked routes to deliver help. Volunteers and employees are providing emergency shelter, safe drinking water, food rations, hygiene kits and vital medical care whilst also dealing with their own personal losses. 

Red Cross Red Crescent teams are on the ground helping flood-affected communities.

Evacuations are ongoing in several areas, with search-and-rescue teams on the ground where conditions allow. These efforts are saving lives — but the scale of this disaster means support from people like you and the global Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is critical.

As the scale of the flooding becomes clearer, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies across the region are contending with widespread damage, disrupted access routes and rising humanitarian needs. International support allows local teams to scale up their operations quickly, from expanding emergency shelter capacity to distributing clean water, food, and medical supplies in areas that are still difficult to reach. When multiple countries are affected at once, global resources become essential to sustaining the response, coordinating relief across borders, and supporting communities through both the immediate emergency and the longer recovery period that follows. 

How New Zealand Red Cross is supporting the response

We will be supporting the response via the Global Disaster Fund, which enables us to contribute to humanitarian operations led by partners on the ground. 

Red Cross teams are delivering clean water to communities affected by severe flooding.

Funding from New Zealand helps strengthen local response efforts, supports specialist deployments when needed, and ensures that relief reaches affected families as quickly as possible. These contributions form part of a wider international effort to help communities recover from what will be a significant and long-lasting disaster. 

Your support today can help ensure that people affected by this crisis receive the vital assistance they need most. 

Donate to the Global Disaster Fund 

Lead image: Communities in South and South-East Asia face devastation after relentless monsoon rains and powerful storms trigger severe flooding and landslides, leaving homes and infrastructure buried in mud and debris. Image credit: IFRC.