Prabowo Doubles Local Aid and Frees Land as Sumatra Flood Toll Climbs

BANDA ACEH, Investortrust.id — President Prabowo Subianto steps up Indonesia s emergency and recovery response to the Sumatra floods on Sunday, Dec 7, 2025 in Aceh as the death toll reaches 916 across three provinces and thousands remain injured and missing.

He orders ministries, local governments and state companies to free up land, funding, doctors and energy supplies so that temporary housing and essential services for survivors can be delivered as quickly as possible.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency, BNPB, Datatrust data showed 359 deaths in Aceh, 228 in West Sumatra and 329 in North Sumatra as of Sunday, Dec 7, 2025 at 10:00 local time, with 274 people still missing and at least 4,200 injured.

Aceh alone recorded 94 missing residents and about 3,500 injured, underlining why Prabowo framed the disaster as a national test of resilience and called for tighter coordination between central and local authorities.

During a late night coordination meeting at the integrated disaster command post at Sultan Iskandar Muda air base in Aceh, Prabowo told ministers and regional leaders that land for temporary housing had to be found without delay.

Temporary Housing

BNPB head Suharyanto reported that one of the biggest obstacles to building temporary housing units was the slow provision of land by local governments, prompting Prabowo to stress that the state had to move faster than bureaucracy.

"The local leaders must prepare the land. The central government will build, but the land often takes too long," Suharyanto said in his briefing.

Prabowo replied that all ministries and agencies, especially the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, had to work with regents and governors to clear the bottlenecks.

"I believe the land should be available. Coordinate between district governments, provincial governments and the central government, all ministries and agencies, especially agrarian and forestry authorities, check everything," he said.

He then made clear that the needs of displaced families would come before commercial interests, stating that concessions could be suspended if necessary to host temporary housing.

"If needed, land use rights can be suspended or reduced. The interests of the people are more important. The land must be there," Prabowo said.

Suharyanto explained that the planned temporary housing units were meant to be far more dignified than tents, with each unit reserved for a single family and designed to function as a basic home.

"The size is roughly a type 36 house, eight by five meters. Rather than staying in tents, it is more representative if they stay in temporary housing," he told the President.

Asked about construction costs, Suharyanto said each unit was estimated at about Rp 30 million, equal to roughly 1,900 dollars, and would come with essential facilities. "There is a toilet and bathroom, all ready inside one unit," he said, a level of service Prabowo described as relatively efficient for the scale of the crisis.

BNPB planned the units for a maximum use of one year before survivors moved into permanent housing, although the stay could be extended if land acquisition for permanent resettlement lagged behind.

"Our concept is that the temporary housing should not be used for more than one year, except in some cases because the local leaders have to prepare the land," Suharyanto said.

He reminded the meeting that construction could be accelerated by deploying joint task forces from the armed forces and the police, citing earlier experience in Lewotobi where troops built housing for thousands of families.

"The regional command task force in East Nusa Tenggara moved 8,000 families, all into temporary housing, and built them in six months," he said.

Prabowo responded by pressing agencies to beat that benchmark. "If it can be done faster, then do it faster than six months," he said.

Where land remained extremely tight, BNPB also prepared a barracks style option, while in areas with more space, each family could receive a plot of around eight by ten meters to allow a smooth transition from temporary to permanent homes in the next phase.

To maintain direct contact with hard hit districts, Prabowo held a video call with the regents of Central Aceh and Bener Meriah during the meeting, after hearing that both districts remained partly isolated.

"I want to try to contact the regent of Central Aceh who is isolated. Thank you for your service, stay strong," he told them, promising to visit as soon as access improved and remarking that he felt calmer seeing them still able to smile.

Government Grants

On the fiscal front, Prabowo decided to grant Rp 4 billion, equal to about 250,000 dollars, to each of the 52 flood affected districts and cities, doubling the Rp 2 billion per district emergency allocation proposed by Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian.

The funds are meant to cover urgent needs that central shipments of food, fuel and rice cannot fully address, such as baby diapers and sanitary products that displaced families usually request from local governments.

"If you asked for Rp 2 billion per district, I will provide Rp 4 billion," Prabowo told Tito, while also instructing that provincial governments receive separate support of around Rp 20 billion each, equal to about 1.25 million dollars, with the final figures to be adjusted to damage levels.

Tito reported that emergency budgets at many local governments, known as unexpected expenditure funds, had been almost exhausted despite inter province solidarity support of about Rp 34 billion, including Rp 3 billion sent to Lhokseumawe.

He also warned that many sub district and village offices had been heavily damaged, risking disruption to public services and the loss of key documents ranging from identity cards and school certificates to vehicle titles and land deeds.

The Home Affairs Minister suggested waiving the fees for reissuing such documents, and Prabowo agreed that all ministries and agencies should review their own fee structures.

"For identity cards under our ministry, we have already waived the charges, but for school certificates, vehicle registration papers and land certificates we should also relieve the burden," Tito said, receiving a swift "OK, calculate everything" from the President.

Prabowo coupled the financial push with a sharp warning against corruption in disaster spending, saying every rupiah had to be used to ease suffering, not to enrich officials.

"I remind you that there must be no misuse, no corruption in any part of the government, because we need every capability and every rupiah to face and overcome the difficulties of our people," he said, instructing the police to scrutinize local administrations that inflated prices or diverted funds.

"I will act very firmly. No one should seek profit in the middle of the people s suffering," he added.

Political Accountability

The President also addressed political accountability after news that the regent of South Aceh, who also chaired a local party branch, had left for a pilgrimage trip while his district was under water.

"Those who want to run away, just run, but they will be removed by the Home Affairs Minister," Prabowo said, comparing such behavior to a soldier who deserted the battlefield and stressing that he did not care which party the official came from.

Separately, the party leadership announced the regent had been dismissed from his position as local party chairman, describing the decision as a response to his failure to stay with residents during the disaster.

Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf, widely known as Gus Ipul, told the meeting that the government had prepared compensation for bereaved families and the seriously injured across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.

Families of those who died would receive Rp 15 million, equal to about 930 dollars, while survivors with serious injuries would receive Rp 5 million, equal to about 310 dollars, alongside other forms of support.

"We will provide compensation for those who have died and support for those who are seriously injured," he said, adding that the ministry also ran dozens of public kitchens in the disaster zone.

Kitchens at 39 locations were producing around 400,000 meals a day for people sheltering in camps and temporary sites in the three provinces, according to his presentation.

Gus Ipul said that after the emergency phase, his ministry would shift its focus to helping families rebuild their livelihoods so that they could return to a more normal life, based on needs assessments carried out with local governments.

Six Hospitals Remain Crippled

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin reported that six regional public hospitals in Aceh remained unable to operate normally, located in North Aceh, East Aceh, Central Aceh, Bener Meriah, Aceh Tamiang and Gayo Lues.

He said the main bottleneck was that roads were still damaged or blocked, making it hard to transport patients in need of urgent care, including pregnant women and people requiring regular dialysis, and asked for support to restore access quickly.

"We need help to open the road access so that pregnant women and those who need dialysis can be brought in," Budi said, warning of a potential second wave of deaths from post disaster disease if services and electricity were not stable.

Many hospitals had also suffered equipment damage and power outages, though support from the armed forces in delivering generators by helicopter had started to ease the situation and technicians were being dispatched to inspect medical devices.

Doctor, Nurse Shortage

Budi underlined that many doctors and health workers themselves had become victims of the floods, leaving some areas short staffed and forcing remaining personnel to work under heavy strain.

He asked that public kitchens prioritize food supplies for medical staff in the six worst affected districts, arguing that health workers could not be expected to operate around the clock if their own families lacked basic necessities.

The health minister also highlighted a shortage of doctors and requested additional human resources, particularly from the armed forces and police medical units, estimating that around 300 doctors would be needed over the next three months.

"I ask the Defense Minister to mobilize medical personnel from the armed forces and the police, because they are easier to deploy. I need around 300 doctors for the next three months," Budi said.

Prabowo asked whether medical students in their clinical years could also be deployed and was told that only internship doctors, who had graduated, could be sent to the field and still required supervising physicians.

He then instructed the ministry to count how many internship doctors were available nationwide, including those based at universities, and to prepare them for deployment.

"Internship doctors are practically ready. Please check how many we have and how many can be deployed. We can also mobilize those in universities," the President said.

Energy Security

Energy security formed another pillar of the response, with state owned energy company PT Pertamina (Persero) reporting that fuel stations across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra were being brought back online and asked to operate around the clock.

Chief executive Simon Aloysius Mantiri said Pertamina had repaired most damaged stations and instructed them to run 24 hours a day to ease long queues for fuel, with extra staff assigned to handle the surge in demand.

"Fuel stations are being maximized to operate 24 hours to reduce the queues that were previously very long, and we have added staff at the stations," Simon said, noting that coordination with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and security forces was key.

To reach isolated areas, Pertamina used pioneering methods, including chartering small aircraft and loading diesel onto Hercules transport planes with large carrying capacity.

The company also prepared to send liquefied petroleum gas canisters to remote villages using sling loads under helicopters, with Simon assuring the President that pressure levels in the cylinders would remain safe at the flight altitudes involved.

"We believe the helicopter flight envelope will not reach a level that endangers the cylinders," he said, adding that the goal was for all remaining isolated communities to receive LPG as soon as possible.

Power Returns

On electricity, BNPB chief Suharyanto told the meeting that power in Aceh had already been restored to around 81 percent of households and was expected to reach 100 percent by Monday, Dec 8, 2025 at noon.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia said key districts such as Central Aceh, Bener Meriah and Aceh Tamiang had seen power return on Sunday evening, while Banda Aceh would need several more hours to reach full capacity.

He estimated that about 95 percent of Aceh had power by late Sunday and that the remaining gaps could be closed within roughly 12 hours if repairs continued without interruption.

In his closing remarks, Prabowo praised officials, soldiers, police, volunteers and community groups for working side by side in difficult conditions, saying their unity was central to speeding up recovery.

"All officials and all personnel in the field appear united, working for the people to restore conditions as quickly as possible," he said, adding that he had met troops who had been on continuous duty for seven or eight days.

The President urged that medicine be treated as a top priority in logistics planning and insisted that no community in need of drugs or basic supplies should be left out because of mismanagement or delays.

He also called for a nationwide show of solidarity, encouraging citizens to donate good quality clothes and other items that could help displaced families regain a sense of dignity while their homes and livelihoods were rebuilt.

Prabowo said he would continue to visit the disaster zone and hold mobile cabinet meetings in hard to reach areas to hear directly from local leaders so that decisions could be made quickly.

"I want to provide morale support and hear firsthand what is needed so that decisions can be taken fast," he said, emphasizing that local leaders were the front line commanders in this fight, with the central government standing behind them with resources and political backing.