JakartaPost/Antara-Dec 15, 2025
The death toll from the floods that hit northern and western parts of Sumatra late last month has reached more than 1,000 people over the weekend, as regions extended their emergency status and evacuees demanded the government to do more in its relief efforts. Three weeks have gone by since cyclone-induced floods and landslides hit Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, devastating regencies across the three provinces and leaving destruction in their wake. As of Sunday night, 1,016 people have been found dead, around 7,600 people injured and over 158,000 houses as well as 1,200 public infrastructure damaged across 52 regencies, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). At least 212 people are still missing.. Dozens of villages across two regencies in Aceh remain isolated, though North Sumatra and West Sumatra see fewer isolated regencies. The consistent rise of fatalities has led West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh to extend their emergency status to Dec. 22, 24 and 25, respectively, so they can scale up aid deliveries to affected regions, some of which remain isolated. ‘Only humans’ President Prabowo Subianto paid a visit to some of the worst-hit regencies in Aceh and North Sumatra on Friday and Saturday, where he acknowledged the central government’s slow disaster response in several regions. “I apologize if some [basic needs] have not yet been met,” Prabowo said during his visit to an evacuation post in Aceh Tamiang regency on Friday. Read more at:
