My name is Irfan, from Kampar, Riau. An Indonesian student living in the US. I started this fundraiser to bring together friends, family, and anyone around the world who believes in compassion and solidarity, and to offer real support to those who urgently need it.

Communities across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra are facing a catastrophic emergency after days of relentless monsoon rain, with Cyclone Senyar triggering deadly floods and landslides, in huge deforestation areas in Indonesia. Over 600 people have died in Indonesia, and entire villages have been washed away. Many families are still searching for loved ones.

This unprecedented weather crisis has led to a devastating regional toll, with Indonesia bearing the heaviest impact, where the official death toll climbed to 1030 by Monday, Dec 15, 2025, with 206 people still missing, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). Over 1.5 million people have been affected in Indonesia, forcing 570,700 residents to evacuate, while the destruction includes 3,500 houses destroyed, 4,100 severely damaged, and 20,500 lightly damaged, with 282 education buildings and 271 bridges also affected; this situation was severely worsened by a concurrent 6.3 earthquake near Aceh and North Sumatra, which is further hindering rescue efforts where many areas remain cut off due to collapsed infrastructure and communication failures. The crisis has also claimed 176 lives in Thailand and three in Malaysia, contributing to a regional impact exceeding four million people, with nearly three million affected in southern Thailand alone, and in Malaysia, the three fatalities coincided with 34,000+ displaced persons, of whom over 11,600 are in evacuation centers across multiple districts in the Peninsula.

This fund is open to everyone — the Indonesian diaspora, friends of the region, and global allies who believe in helping communities in their hardest moments.

Compassion knows no borders! We are all invited to stand in solidarity with those affected!

Communities are facing major infrastructure damage and urgent shortages of food, shelter, and clean water.

Why This Fund Matters

Southeast Asians abroad, in the US, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and beyond, share a deep understanding of what it means for our homelands to face disaster. We may live far away, but our sense of responsibility and love for our region doesn’t go away.

This fund will help provide:

Clean water, food, and essential supplies

Emergency shelter and blankets

Medical care and hygiene kits

Fuel, rescue tools, and transportation for remote areas

Support for families who have lost homes, income, or loved ones

We will prioritize areas where official aid is slow, difficult, or unable to reach.

A Call to the Diaspora & Global Community

Whether you are Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Chinese, South Asian, or simply someone who cares about humanity — this is a moment for global solidarity.

These disasters do not stop at borders. Neither should our compassion.

Your help — big or small — brings real relief to families who are living through the hardest days of their lives.

Funds raised will be distributed in partnership with Dompet Dhuafa, a trusted humanitarian organization with decades of experience responding to disasters across Indonesia. By working directly with Dompet Dhuafa, we will ensure that assistance reaches the hardest-hit areas as quickly as possible, including North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Aceh, and other communities that remain difficult to access. This partnership allows every donation to be used transparently and effectively to support families who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and access to basic necessities. Besides Dompet Dhuafa, we are also collaborating with LBH Padang, Walhi North Sumatra (Friends of Earth) and Yayasan Hatta.

More on Cyclone Senyar

Some experts say that “We are now witnessing one of the rarest tropical cyclone events in recorded history. According to IBTrACS data [United States agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship project], no cyclonic-strength system has ever been documented in this exact region since 1842,” (Ajith Kumar, 2025)

The unprecedented nature of Tropical Cyclone Senyar lies in its extremely rare location of formation and the catastrophic intensity of the resulting rainfall. Senyar developed in the Strait of Malacca, a region so close to the equator that the Coriolis force—the rotational effect necessary to spin up a major storm—is historically too weak for cyclonic-strength systems. Its formation and the subsequent devastating floods, which saw rainfall totals equivalent to a month's worth in a single day, is a stark signal of a climate anomaly. Warmer sea surface temperatures, fueled by global warming, provide the extra energy needed to overcome geographical barriers and supercharge the atmosphere with moisture, enabling such rare and deadly extreme events to occur in regions unprepared for them, resulting in death tolls, mass displacement, and immense infrastructure damage. (You can check this well written Wikipedia page for further information on this cyclone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Senyar )

Senyar serves as a critical warning that no region is safe from the accelerating impacts of climate change. Once again climate change and poor adaptation and disaster management capacity has led to unnecessary loss of life, severe long-term economic disruption, and the overwhelming devastation of vulnerable communities.

How You Can Support

Donate whatever you can — even a few dollars goes far

Share this campaign across your networks, both diaspora and international

Stand with Southeast Asia as communities struggle to rebuild and recover

Thank you for extending your kindness across oceans and borders. Together, we can help families in Indonesia rise again.

Photo credits: Dompet Dhuafa & AFP/GettyImages