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View all search resultsYearender: Climate extremes expose Indonesia’s disaster vulnerabilities
Weak disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts as well as environmental degradation mainly caused by business activities have exposed Indonesia to hazards of extreme climate events, including tropical cyclones that are not usually forming in areas close to the equator.
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Standing proud: Piles of uprooted and felled trees swept down by a flash flood surround Darul Mukhlisin Islamic boarding school and the mosque attached to the school in Aceh Tamiang, Aceh, on Dec. 14, 2025.. (AFP/AFP)
A
s extreme hydrometeorological events dominated the national headlines, 2025 became another deadly year in terms of disasters, disasters that revealed the country’s inadequate mitigation efforts in the face of intensifying climate extremes and worsening environmental degradation.
Indonesia endured 3,133 disasters so far this year, according to data as of Saturday from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). At least 1,530 people died as a result of these events, making 2025 the deadliest recent year for disasters, excluding casualties from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The impact, however, extended far beyond fatalities, as 7,751 people were injured and around 10.3 million people, or over 3 percent of the national population, were displaced this year; the highest figure since 2019. More than 186,000 houses and public buildings were either damaged or destroyed.
The deadliest disaster of the year was the cyclone-induced floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which killed nearly 1,100 people, making it the deadliest single event since the 2018 Central Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 4,000.
Beyond the human toll, the disasters also severed roads and bridges and disrupted communication networks across the three provinces, leaving millions isolated for weeks as emergency teams struggled to reach cut-off areas.
Deadly floods
According to BNPB data, floods made up half of all recorded disasters this year with 1,594 cases. Extreme weather and forest and land fires followed with 657 and 546 cases, respectively.
