Prabowo Orders Agencies to Stay on Duty as Aceh Search Ends and Sumatra Flood Toll Mounts

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — Prabowo Subianto orders all ministries and state agencies to cancel holidays on Thursday, Dec 25, 2025 in Jakarta and remain fully operational to handle severe flooding across Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra as search operations in Aceh are halted and the death toll across Sumatra surpasses 1,100.

Prabowo delivered the instruction as part of intensified national disaster management efforts, while also urging solidarity and prayers for affected communities during his Christmas 2025 message.

“May our brothers and sisters in the affected areas be protected by the Almighty and have their suffering eased, and let us continue working hard together to overcome the difficulties they face,” Prabowo said.

The President emphasized that Christmas should serve as a moment to strengthen national unity, deepen social solidarity, and reinforce the spirit of mutual cooperation amid overlapping humanitarian challenges.

The order for ministries and agencies to remain on duty was conveyed by Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno during a press conference in Banda Aceh.

“Everyone must continue working without pause, deploying national resources to accelerate disaster response in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra until people’s lives and livelihoods fully recover and improve,” Pratikno said.

The central government has continued emergency response and early recovery operations together with the National Disaster Management Agency, the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the National Police, and local governments.

“All parties are working together on the ground to restore Sumatra, with a clear focus on citizen safety, fulfillment of basic needs, and accelerated recovery,” Pratikno said.

In Aceh, the National Search and Rescue Agency formally ended active search operations for flood victims after 31 days with no new findings in recent week.

Head of Basarnas Banda Aceh Ibnu Harris Al Hussain said operations were shifted to monitoring mode, citing the very low likelihood of survivors after more than a month since the disaster.

“Human survival time in disaster conditions is at most seven days, and it has now been 31 days since the floods, so the chance of survivors is very small,” he said.

As of Thursday, authorities reported 31 people remained missing in Aceh, while search and rescue teams remained on standby to respond immediately if new information emerged.

Based on consolidated data from the National Disaster Management Agency, cumulative flood casualties across Sumatra reached 1,135 deaths, with 173 people still reported missing.

Aceh recorded the highest number of fatalities at 503, followed by North Sumatra with 371 and West Sumatra with 261, highlighting the scale of devastation across the island.

More than 3.3 million people were affected by the floods, while around 496,000 residents were displaced as of 22.00 WIB on Dec 25, 2025.

Pratikno said that 12 of the 52 affected regencies and cities across the three provinces had entered the transition phase from emergency response to recovery.

However, 10 regencies in Aceh extended their emergency status to ensure response measures remained effective and regions were fully prepared for post-disaster recovery.

The government is accelerating the construction of temporary and permanent housing for displaced residents, while aid distribution continues via land, air, and sea routes, including to areas still isolated by damaged infrastructure.

In Pidie Jaya, Aceh, local disaster officials reported renewed flooding after heavy rainfall caused the Meureudu River to overflow, inundating multiple villages across three districts.

Emergency teams were placed on alert and residents were urged to move to safer locations as heavy rain continued with varying water levels across affected areas.