For decades, Sumatra\u2019s dense tropical rainforests have been steadily stripped away. Illegal logging, industrial forestry, palm oil plantations and mining operations have eroded the land\u2019s natural defenses. When unusually intense rains arrived, linked to rising ocean temperatures, the forests were no longer there to absorb water or stabilize soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat occurred was not just flooding by water,\u201d<\/em>, Febrianto explained, \u201cbut floods of mud and logs that devastated residential areas, destroyed people\u2019s property and damaged public infrastructure.\u201d<\/em>Hillsides left bare by deforestation, gave way. Entire communities were buried under debris flowing downhill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By late December, the scale of the disaster was clear. Official figures as of December 21, show that more than 3.3 million people across Sumatra were affected, with nearly one million forced from their homes. At least 1,090 people were reported dead, 186 remained missing and around 7,000 were injured. More than 147,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, with economic losses estimated at nearly $19.8 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As suffering spread across Sumatra, the Catholic Church mobilized its humanitarian response. Caritas Indonesia emerged as a central humanitarian force, working through diocesan networks to deliver urgent assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur focus is ensuring access to food, temporary shelter, clean water, sanitation and hygiene services and essential health care,\u201d<\/em>, Fredy Rante Taruk, executive director of Caritas Indonesia, in a statement to Omnes<\/em>. Displaced families and vulnerable groups, he said, remain the priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, Caritas and its partners have assisted more than 22,000 people with food, distributed hygiene kits <\/em>to over 5,700, provided health care to 3,700, and offered psychosocial support to nearly 1,600. In total, 60 tons of aid have been delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Taruk stressed that international solidarity from Catholics abroad remains essential to sustain relief and recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indonesia\u2019s disaster reveals the human cost of a development model driven by short-term economic gain and weak environmental protection. Nowhere is this clearer than in North Sumatra, where Catholic clergy have taken the unusual step of publicly protesting industrial forestry practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Supriyadi Pardosi, OFMCap, has helped organize demonstrations since November 2025 against PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), a major pulp and paper company operating in the region. Protests have been directed at Indonesia\u2019s parliament, government ministries, the National Commission on Human Rights, and provincial authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur demand remains consistent: the closure of the pulp firm PT Toba Pulp Lestari,\u201d<\/em>, Pardosi told Omnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For him, the issue is not abstract environmentalism but the survival of local communities. Large areas of natural rainforest have been replaced by eucalyptus monoculture plantations, which do little to prevent erosion or flooding. Even before the 2025 cyclone, flash floods repeatedly struck areas near TPL\u2019s operations, including Harian\u2013Samosir in November 2023, Simallopuk in December 2023 and Parapat in March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cClosing this firm is the only way for local communities to return to their normal livelihoods,\u201d<\/em>he said. \u201cIt is also the only way forward toward a sustainable future.\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The damage extends beyond the physical landscape. According to Fr. Pardosi, deforestation has deeply fractured the social fabric. Competition over land and jobs has fueled resentment and violence within villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cClashes regularly occur between those who support and those who oppose TPL\u2019s operations,\u201d<\/em>, he said. These tensions have \u201cturned neighbor against neighbor\u201d,<\/em>, fracturing indigenous communities, churches and households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this sense, environmental degradation becomes a catalyst for social breakdown. When land is degraded, livelihoods collapse. When livelihoods collapse, communities fracture. What appears as an environmental issue quickly becomes a crisis of human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuman livability cannot be separated from a livable environment,\u201d<\/em>Fr. Pardosi said. Drawing on the teaching of Pope Francis and the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, he discussed humanity\u2019s dependence on creation. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indonesia is often described as one of the world\u2019s ecological \u201clungs.\u201d Yet forests continue to be cleared for corporate projects. Fr. Pardosi criticized authorities for siding with companies that replace rainforests with mines or monoculture plantations, practices he said contradict the life-supporting purpose of forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn attitude that degrades and exploits nature,\u201d<\/em>he warned, represents \u201ca low point in our humanity,\u201d<\/em>with consequences that will be borne not only by today\u2019s victims but by future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Febrianto approached the crisis from an Ignatian perspective. Citing St. Ignatius\u2019 Contemplation to Attain Love, <\/em>he recalled that God is present and active in all creation and thus recognizing that presence should lead to reverence and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, he said, many political and economic decisions treat nature as a resource to be dominated. \u201cThere is no spiritual discernment here\u201d,<\/em> he said.\u201cGod is not taken into account\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even rational discernment is often absent. 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, Fr. Febrianto warned, is \u201ca massive appetite to extract forest wealth instantly, without considering long-term consequences\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Discernment, he said, requires conversion \u201cfrom indifference and self-centeredness toward opening one\u2019s heart to God\u201d.<\/em>That conversion involves listening to scientific findings, to prayerful silence, to the cries of the poor and to the warning signs written into the land itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More fundamentally, the Church must help address the root causes of ecological collapse. Fr. Febrianto pointed to Laudato Si' <\/em>and Pope Francis\u2019 call for \u201cintegral ecology,\u201d which recognizes that environmental, social, economic, and spiritual crises are inseparable. Human development cannot be measured by economic growth alone. It must promote\u201cthe development of every person and the whole person,\u201d<\/em>especially the poor, indigenous communities, and those most exposed to environmental risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is unfolding in Indonesia is not unique. Similar patterns of deforestation, displacement, and climate vulnerability are visible across the developing world from the Amazon Basin to Central Africa and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lesson is important. When forests fall, floods follow. When land is treated as expendable, people become expendable too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Fr. Pardosi, the moral stakes are unmistakable. Environmental exploitation, he said, harms\nnot only those alive today but\"thousands of people in future generations who have never chosen to participate in these destructive acts<\/em>\", Indonesia\u2019s tragedy is therefore not only a national crisis but a global warning. Development without discernment leaves devastation in its wake. The question facing governments, corporations, and societies worldwide is whether progress will continue to be driven by appetite or guided by responsibility, restraint, and care for the common home entrusted to humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cuando el cicl\u00f3n Senyar azot\u00f3 la isla indonesia de Sumatra a finales de noviembre de 2025, la devastaci\u00f3n fue repentina y abrumadora. Las inundaciones y los deslizamientos de tierra sumergieron pueblos enteros. Las laderas se derrumbaron. Miles de personas resultaron heridas y desplazadas en Aceh, Sumatra Septentrional y Sumatra Occidental. Sin embargo, para las comunidades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2425,"featured_media":58596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[36,46],"tags":[545,890,1623],"class_list":["post-58595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad","category-mundo","tag-asia","tag-fe","tag-indonesia"],"yoast_head":"\nThe aftermath of Cyclone Senyar<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Father](\"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/02-2025-12-23_Disaster-site-visit-Fr.-Fredy-Rante-Taruk-Executive-Director-of-Caritas-Indonesia-copia-edited.jpg\")
Development without safeguards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A social as well as an ecological crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Capuchin](\"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Capuchin-Priests-join-protests-against-paper-giant-PT-Toba-Pulp-Lestari-in-Sumatra-1024x576.jpeg\")
Discernment and responsibility<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A global warning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n