When the forest falls: Faith, floods and responsibility in Indonesia

When Cyclone Senyar struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra in late November 2025, the devastation was sudden and overwhelming. Floods and landslides submerged entire villages. Hillsides collapsed. Thousands of people were injured and displaced in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. For local communities and Church leaders, however, the catastrophe was neither sudden nor unforeseeable.

“These were not simply natural disasters.”, Martinus Dam Febrianto SJ, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia. “They were ecological disasters.”.

For decades, Sumatra's dense rainforests have been steadily devastated. Illegal logging, industrial forestry, palm oil plantations and mining operations have eroded the land's natural defenses. When unusually heavy rains came, related to rising ocean temperatures, the forests were no longer there to absorb water or stabilize the soil.

“What happened was not just a flood.”, Febrianto explained, “but an avalanche of mud and logs that devastated residential areas, destroyed property and damaged public infrastructure.”. The slopes, stripped bare by deforestation, gave way. Entire communities were buried under the debris that flowed down them.

The aftermath of Cyclone Senyar

By the end of December, the scale of the disaster was evident. Official figures on December 21 showed that more than 3.3 million people in Sumatra were affected, and nearly one million were forced to flee their homes. At least 1,090 people were reported dead, 186 missing and around 7,000 injured. More than 147,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, with economic losses estimated at nearly US$19.8 billion.

In the face of the suffering spreading across Sumatra, the Catholic Church mobilized its humanitarian response. Caritas Indonesia became a central humanitarian force, working through diocesan networks to provide urgent assistance.

“Our goal is to ensure access to food, temporary shelter, clean water, sanitation and hygiene services and basic health care.”, Fredy Rante Taruk, executive director of Caritas Indonesia, in a statement to Omnes. Displaced families and vulnerable groups, he said, remain the priority.

So far, Caritas and its partners have helped more than 22,000 people with food, have distributed kits The company has provided hygiene assistance to more than 5,700 people, health care to 3,700 and psychosocial support to nearly 1,600 people. In total, 60 tons of aid have been delivered.

Father Taruk stressed that the international solidarity of Catholics abroad remains essential to sustain relief and recovery.

Development without safeguards

The catastrophe in Indonesia highlights the human cost of a development model driven by short-term economic gain and poor environmental protection. Nowhere is this more evident than in North Sumatra, where Catholic clergy have taken the unusual step of publicly protesting industrial forestry practices.

Father Supriyadi Pardosi OFMCap has helped organize demonstrations since November 2025 against PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), a major pulp company operating in the region. Protests have targeted the Indonesian Parliament, government ministries, the National Human Rights Commission and provincial authorities.

“Our demand remains the same: the closure of the pulp company PT Toba Pulp Lestari.”, Pardosi told Omnes.

For him, the issue is not abstract environmentalism, but the survival of local communities. Large tracts of natural rainforest have been replaced by monoculture eucalyptus plantations, which do little to prevent erosion or flooding. Even before the 2025 cyclone, flash floods repeatedly hit areas near TPL's operations, including Harian-Samosir in November 2023, Simallopuk in December 2023 and Parapat in March 2025.

“Closing this company is the only way for local communities to regain their normal livelihoods.”he said. “It is also the only way to move towards a sustainable future.”.

A social as well as an ecological crisis

The damage goes beyond the physical landscape. According to Father Pardosi, deforestation has deeply fractured the social fabric. Competition for land and employment has fueled resentment and violence within villages.

“There are regular clashes between those who support and those who oppose TPL's operations.”, he said. These tensions have “pitted neighbors against each other”, fracturing indigenous communities, churches and homes.»

In this sense, environmental degradation becomes a catalyst for social disintegration. When land degrades, livelihoods collapse. When livelihoods collapse, communities fracture. What looks like an environmental problem quickly becomes a crisis of human dignity.

“Human habitability cannot be separated from a livable environment.”, said Father Pardosi. Drawing on the teachings of Pope Francis and the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, he spoke of humanity's dependence on creation. “We cannot live without our environment, but the environment can exist without us. The degradation of nature is, in essence, the degradation of human life itself.”.

Indonesia is often described as one of the ecological “lungs” of the world. However, forests continue to be cleared for business projects. Father Pardosi criticized the authorities for siding with companies that replace rainforests with mines or monoculture plantations, practices that he said contradict the purpose of forests as life-supporting.

“An attitude that degrades and exploits nature.”, warned, he said, representing “a low point in our humanity”, The consequences will be felt not only by today's victims, but also by future generations.

Discernment and responsibility

Father Febrianto approached the crisis from an Ignatian perspective. Citing the Contemplation to attain love of St. Ignatius, recalled that God is present and active in all of creation and, therefore, recognizing that presence should lead to respect and care.

Instead, he said, many political and economic decisions treat nature as a resource to be mastered. “There is no spiritual discernment here.”, stated. “God is not taken into account.”.

Often there is not even rational discernment. Despite scientific evidence linking deforestation and climate change to flooding, officials have denied such connections. Some have even claimed that oil palm plantations are equivalent to forests. Behind these arguments, warned Fr. Febrianto, there are. “a huge appetite for extracting forest wealth instantaneously, without regard for the long-term consequences.”.

Discernment, he said, requires a conversion “from indifference and self-centeredness to the opening of the heart to God”.”. That conversion involves listening to scientific findings, the silence of prayer, the cries of the poor and the warning signs written on the earth itself.

More fundamentally, the Church must help address the root causes of ecological collapse. Father Febrianto pointed to the Laudato Si' and Pope Francis“ call for an ”integral ecology,“ which recognizes that environmental, social, economic and spiritual crises are inseparable. Human development cannot be measured solely by economic growth. It must promote "the development of each person and of the whole person”especially the poor, indigenous communities and those most exposed to environmental risk.

A global warning

What is happening in Indonesia is not unique. Similar patterns of deforestation, displacement and climate vulnerability are visible throughout the developing world, from the Amazon Basin to Central Africa to Southeast Asia.

The lesson is important. When forests fall, floods come. When land is treated as expendable, people become expendable too.

For Father Pardosi, the moral stakes are unequivocal. Environmental exploitation, he says, not only harms those who live today, but also “thousands of people in future generations who have never chosen to participate in these destructive acts”. Thus, the tragedy in Indonesia is not just a national crisis, but a global warning. Development without discernment leaves devastation in its wake. The question facing governments, businesses and societies around the world is whether progress will continue to be driven by appetite or guided by responsibility, restraint and care for the common home entrusted to humanity.