Is my landlord responsible?

My upstairs water heater broke and the water came through my ceiling. I found out after coming back from a 3 day vacation. Damaged my laptop, bed, couch, and clothing. Nobody knew about it until i told them. Also the ceiling contains small amounts of asbestos.

If it was an accident you can try to hold him liable but normally if you are not insured you are out of luck. The landlord may compromise with you. The damage to the building must be repaired of course.
If you can show somebody was at fault in any way that may be a different story. You might collect.