On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, Cyclone Senyar battered Sumatra and turned entire regions into disaster zones. Flash floods and landslides wiped out large parts of North Sumatra and Aceh. At least 400 people lost their lives, many are still missing, and tens of thousands are suddenly withut homes, fields, or livelihoods.
Our projects in the Tapanuli orangutan forest, the tiger habitat of the Leuser Ecosystem, and the mangrove reforestation areas on the east coast have also been hit hard. Communities that protect these forests are now struggling to survive.
Sumatra’s rainforests remain the strongest protection for millions against extreme weather and surging seas. When they fall, people pay the price.
“What we are witnessing in Sumatra is not a natural disaster,” says Rianda Purba of our partner organization WALHI North Sumatra. For decades, the rainforest has been ruthlessly cleared for the hydropower plant in the Batang Toru forest, for the Martabe gold mine, for oil palm plantations, and for paper mills.
Now the wholesale destruction of nature is taking its toll. Once the rainforest is gone, the soil and rivers can no longer absorb the masses of water, and entire villages are left defenseless.
The Tapanuli region around the Batang Toru forest has been hit especially hard, as the forest has already been ecologically degraded. The area around the Tripa peat swamp is also severely flooded, and a landslide has swept away part of our tree nursery in the Leuser Ecosystem.
Please donate now so that families can survive the next few days and weeks. Our partners on the ground urgently need funds for dry clothing, food, clean water, and to support their life‑saving rescue work!
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