Three cyclones happened simultaneously across South and Southeast Asia this week, the latest of several huge storms that have battered the region, killing at least 1,200 people, with hundreds more still missing and millions displaced.

本周，南亚和东南亚同时出现了三场气旋风暴，这是今年以来肆虐该地区的又一轮大型风暴，目前已造成至少1200人死亡，数百人失联，数百万人流离失所。

Since the start of this year, there have been at least 16 cyclones and dozens of depressions in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Even moderate cyclones now produce extreme rainfall and can cause widespread flooding, said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

今年以来，太平洋和印度洋已生成至少16个气旋，以及数十个低气压系统。印度热带气象研究所气候科学家罗克西·马修·科尔表示，如今即便是强度中等的气旋，也会带来强降雨，可能引发大范围洪涝灾害。

“It is the rainfall and the cascading impacts — landslides and flash floods — that stand out this year, not necessarily the number of storms,” Dr. Koll said.

“今年最显著的灾害特征并非风暴数量，而是暴雨及其引发的山体滑坡、山洪暴发等连锁反应，”科尔博士说。

Cyclone Ditwah hit Sri Lanka and is expected to move toward India. Cyclone Senyar reached Indonesia and is now headed toward Malaysia.

迪特瓦气旋袭击了斯里兰卡，预计将向印度移动；森亚尔气旋已登陆印度尼西亚，目前正向马来西亚推进。

In Sri Lanka, the president said on Monday that the island nation was facing the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” affecting every part of the country, exceeding the scope of the devastating 2004 tsunami, which hit coastal areas.

斯里兰卡总统周一表示，这个岛国正遭遇“历史上规模最大、挑战最严峻的自然灾害”，全国所有地区均受波及，受灾范围超过了2004年重创沿海地区的毁灭性海啸。

Here’s what to know about this year’s devastating monsoon season.

以下是关于今年这场灾难性季风季的关键信息：

Which countries are affected?

哪些国家受到影响？

Flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka have affected more than a million people, and more than 15,000 homes have been destroyed. The death toll in Sri Lanka rose to at least 355 on Monday, with hundreds more still missing.

斯里兰卡的洪涝和山体滑坡已影响100多万人，逾1.5万所房屋被毁。截至周一，该国死亡人数已升至至少355人，仍有数百人失联。

Officials in Indonesia said the flooding had affected 1.5 million people and displaced about 570,000. Nearly 300,000 people in Indonesia had been evacuated from their homes as of Saturday. Indonesia’s official death toll has reached 604, and 464 others were still missing.

印度尼西亚官员称，洪涝灾害影响了150万人，约57万人流离失所。截至周六，该国已有近30万人撤离家园。官方公布的死亡人数达604人，另有464人失踪。

Vietnam has been hit by 14 typhoons this year, with the 15th major storm forming off the country’s south central coast. More than 90 people in the nation were killed in November from flooding and landslides.

越南今年已遭遇14场台风侵袭，第15场强风暴已在该国中南部沿海地区形成。11月，该国已有超90人因洪涝和山体滑坡丧生。

At least 160 people have died in Thailand, where flooding has displaced more than two million residents. Last week, Thailand’s military sent troops, helicopters and boats to rescue people stranded by flooding in its southern provinces.

泰国洪灾至少导致160人遇难，超200万居民流离失所。上周，泰国军方派遣军队、直升机和船只，营救南部府因洪水受困的民众。

In early November, the Philippines was hit by two typhoons in the span of one week. Troops mobilized alongside emergency workers to prepare for Super Typhoon Fung-wong on Nov. 9, less than a week after another storm left more than 200 people dead.

11月初，菲律宾一周内接连遭遇两场台风袭击。11月9日，军方与应急人员紧急动员起来，为超强台风“凤凰”做准备，此时距离一场已造成200多人死亡的台风过去不到一周时间。

周一，斯里兰卡首都科伦坡郊区的韦兰皮蒂亚遭遇暴雨袭击后，居民们扛着行李涉水穿越被洪水淹没的区域。

What is unusual about this year?

今年的灾害有何不同寻常之处？

This year’s monsoon season has been unusually intense, partly because of La Niña — a weather phenomenon in which strong winds push warm water across the Pacific toward East Asia, creating conditions for storms to form. The words hurricane, typhoon and cyclone all refer to the same type of storm, but different terms are used for such storms in different parts of the world.

今年的季风季强度异常，部分原因是拉尼娜现象——在这种气候现象影响下，强风将太平洋暖水推向东亚，为风暴形成创造了有利条件。飓风、台风和气旋本质上是同一类风暴，只是在世界不同地区叫法不同。

While monsoon rains happen every year, cyclones are rare in regions near the Equator. Tropical cyclones spin because of a force caused by the planet’s rotation. It is unusual for storms to form near the Earth’s Equator, where this force is weakest. But Typhoon Senyar formed about 5 degrees above the Equator in an ocean strait between Indonesia and Malaysia.

季风降雨虽每年都会发生，但赤道附近地区极少出现气旋。热带气旋的旋转源于地球自转产生的作用力，在赤道地区力量最弱，因此很少形成风暴。然而台风森亚尔却在赤道以北约五度的海域形成，位于印度尼西亚与马来西亚之间的海峡上空。

周一，在印度尼西亚西苏门答腊省塔纳达塔尔地区，工作人员正在转移一名洪水遇难者的遗体。

How is climate change affecting these storms?

气候变化如何影响这些风暴？

For over a century, greenhouse gases emitted by human activity have trapped heat inside the planet’s atmosphere. Last year was the hottest year since reliable record-keeping began. The oceans have also heated significantly, and warmer water helps tropical cyclones form and strengthen more rapidly.

一个多世纪以来，人类活动排放的温室气体在地球大气层中积聚热量。去年是有可靠气象记录以来最热的一年，海洋温度也大幅上升，而温暖的海水会助力热带气旋更快形成并增强其威力。

In the Bay of Bengal, the body of water between India and Myanmar, the proportion of storms that become extreme has increased over the last 50 years.

在印度和缅甸之间的孟加拉湾，过去50年来，达到极端强度的风暴比例持续上升。

The hotter climate is also weakening vertical wind shear, the winds that often help break up developing storms, in some places around the world. A 2024 study suggested that warming of the Tibetan Plateau may have reduced wind shear over the Pacific Ocean surrounding Southeast and East Asia, while others show that wind shear over the Arabian Sea has also weakened since the 1990s, allowing stronger cyclones.

全球变暖还导致全球部分地区的垂直风切变减弱——这种风通常会瓦解正在形成的风暴。2024年的一项研究表明，青藏高原升温可能降低了东南亚和东亚周边太平洋海域的垂直风切变；另有研究显示，自上世纪90年代以来，阿拉伯海的垂直风切变也在减弱，使得气旋强度不断增强。

This year’s storms occurred alongside extreme regional rains. In Southeast Asia, late-season typhoons often coincide with monsoon rains in November and December, though this overlap is unusual in South Asia.

今年的风暴还伴随区域性极端降雨。在东南亚，季末台风通常会在11月和12月与季风降雨叠加，但这种现象在南亚并不常见。

Because warmer air can hold more moisture, rising global temperatures increase the potential amount of rainfall, making the monsoon season more variable, intense and unpredictable.

由于暖空气能容纳更多水汽，全球气温上升增加了降雨潜力，导致季风季变得更加多变、猛烈且难以预测。

印度尼西亚北苏门答腊省周日发生山洪暴发和山体滑坡后，流离失所的居民在避难所休息。

How are governments responding?

各国政府如何应对？

The countries affected by this year’s storms have uneven climate adaptation plans and are already struggling to adapt to environmental pressures. Many of these governments are also facing complex economic and political challenges, along with public pressure to respond to disasters quickly and effectively.

今年受风暴影响的国家，气候适应计划参差不齐，且已经在竭力应对环境压力。这些国家的政府大多还面临复杂的经济和政治挑战，同时承受着民众要求快速有效应对灾害的压力。

Sri Lanka’s recovery from a man-made economic crash in 2022 is still fragile. Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, the president of one of Sri Lanka’s largest community-based development organizations, said that all the country’s 25 districts have been affected.

斯里兰卡在2022年人为导致的经济崩溃后，复苏进程仍脆弱不堪。斯里兰卡最大的社区发展组织之一负责人维尼娅·阿里亚拉特纳博士表示，该国25个行政区全部受灾。

“The whole country is a disaster zone, except for a few places,” he said. “That’s the difference between the tsunami and this one — the tsunami was only coastal areas.”

“除少数地区外，整个国家都沦为灾区。这就是此次灾害与海啸的不同之处——海啸仅影响沿海地区，”他说。

In Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, thousands of people came to the streets in September to protest the yawning wealth gap. Youth unemployment has exceeded 16 percent, and the capital, Jakarta, is sinking into the Java Sea, its groundwater sucked dry and rivers overrun by its millions of residents.

印度尼西亚是全球第四人口大国，今年9月，数以千计的民众走上街头抗议贫富差距悬殊问题。该国青年失业率已超16%，首都雅加达因地下水过度开采、河流不堪千万人口的重负，正逐渐沉入爪哇海。

Some in Vietnam have begun to criticize the government’s lack of preparedness and slow response. Natural disasters have caused more than $2 billion in damage between January and October, according to the national statistics office.

越南已有民众开始批评政府防灾准备不足、救灾响应迟缓。该国国家统计局数据显示，今年1月至10月，自然灾害造成的经济损失已超20亿美元。

In September, thousands of Filipinos filled the streets of Manila to protest the government, which they accuse of misappropriating billions of dollars that were designated for flood relief projects. Greenpeace, an environmental group, estimated that about a trillion Philippine pesos, or $17.6 billion, that was supposed to help the country confront chronic and deadly flooding had been embezzled.

今年9月，数以千计菲律宾民众聚集在马尼拉街头抗议政府，指控其挪用了数十亿美元的防洪救灾专项资金。环保组织绿色和平估计，约1万亿菲律宾比索（约合176亿美元）的防洪救灾资金遭贪污——这些资金本应用于应对频发的致命洪涝灾害。

斯里兰卡首都科伦坡郊区的韦兰皮蒂亚地区周日发生洪水。