December 1, 2025
JAKARTA/MEDAN – Pressure is mounting on the central government to declare a national state of emergency after floods and landslides devastated northern and western Sumatra, cutting key transportation networks and leaving local administrations struggling to provide relief.
The rare tropical cyclone Senyar, which formed over the Malacca Strait, made landfall on Wednesday, unleashing intense rainfall and strong winds that set off flash floods and landslides in North Sumatra before sweeping into neighboring Aceh and West Sumatra.
Speaking at a disaster response meeting on Sunday, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Suharyanto said the disaster has impacted over 881,000 people, killing 316 and injuring 638 across the three provinces. Some 289 people also remained missing.
Although the easing of rainfall over the past two days has prevented the situation from worsening, Suharyanto said cut-off transportation routes and downed communication networks continued to isolate pockets of affected communities and complicate disaster relief efforts.
In North Sumatra, residents in the isolated Central Tapanuli regency and Sibolga city looted minimarkets and a State Logistics Agency (Bulog) warehouse on Saturday afternoon. A resident told The Jakarta Post that the absence of information on when aid would arrive had driven people to steal basic necessities.
In Aceh, the main route connecting the province with North Sumatra remains severed, as was the transport corridor from provincial capital Banda Aceh to Lhokseumawe City.
West Sumatra, meanwhile, has surpassed Aceh in fatalities, but land access has successfully been restored to all seven affected cities and regencies in the province.
“Overall, the situation in West Sumatra is more under control. The main challenges remain in Central Tapanuli and Sibolga in North Sumatra as well as several isolated regions in Aceh,” Suharyanto said.
He said the central government has deployed six helicopters carrying about 900 kilograms of emergency supplies per trip to Central Tapanuli and Sibolga, with conditions expected to improve further once two ships bringing additional aid from Jakarta arrive on Monday.
About 13 tonnes of emergency aid have also been flown into Aceh via cargo planes landing in Banda Aceh and Lhokseumawe, allowing the province’s logistics supply to be gradually replenished, Suharyanto added.
Read also: Indonesia begins clean-up after massive floods kill hundreds
Beyond the disaster-hit areas, the severed transportation network in Sumatra has also caused the prices of several food commodities in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, to surge, according to vendors of various traditional markets in the city.
National emergency
While the provincial administrations of Aceh, West Sumatra and North Sumatra declared two-week provincial-level emergencies last week, calls are mounting for the central government to raise the status to a national emergency.
A coalition of civil groups, including the Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute and the Indonesian Foundation for Justice and Peace (YKPI), said that the status was essential since local administrations, with their limited resources, no longer have the capacity to manage a disaster of this magnitude.
“We urge the President to immediately declare a national emergency as a concrete demonstration of the state’s presence in fulfilling the basic rights of affected communities,” the coalition said in a statement on Sunday.
Sociologist Humam Hamid from Banda Aceh’s Syiah Kuala University said national emergency status was necessary to mobilize national resources and improve coordination between the central government and regional administrations, which he said has been “suboptimal”.
“The central government must act swiftly and decisively. The safety of citizens is the absolute priority. Declaring this a national disaster within 24 to 48 hours is the most crucial step to save lives and begin rebuilding the affected regions,” Humam said.
Read also: No disaster status escalation for Northern Sumatra flood, BNPB says
Calls for a national emergency have also come from House of Representatives lawmakers, including the chairman of Commission V overseeing infrastructure, Syaiful Huda of the National Awakening Party (PKB).
“Designating a national emergency is crucial to streamline the disaster response in Sumatra. It would allow the government to better mobilize national resources, such as funding, logistics, search-and-rescue personnel and volunteers,” Syaiful said on Instagram on Saturday.
All hands on deck
When asked whether his administration planned to impose a national emergency, President Prabowo Subianto said on Friday that the government was focused on delivering aid but promised that it would continue to “monitor and assess conditions.”
Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Pratikno said during Sunday’s meeting on Sumatra disaster response that the President had instructed all ministries to actively support BNPB in the emergency response.
“He has ordered us to mobilize all national resources for the emergency response — to carry out evacuations, deploy logistics and medical personnel and restore transportation and communication infrastructure as quickly as possible,” Pratikno said.