Antara, BeritaSatu, Jakarta – The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported on Tuesday night that 744 people have been killed and 551 remain missing in the floods and landslides that struck three provinces in Sumatra over the past ten days.
The confirmed fatalities include 301 in North Sumatra, 221 in West Sumatra, and 218 in Aceh. BNPB said the disaster has affected 3.3 million residents across 50 regencies in the three provinces.
"The disaster also damaged 9,400 homes, 323 school buildings and 299 bridges," BNPB said. Additional impacts include road collapses, power outages, school closures and submerged farmland that forced early crop failures.
Batang Toru under scrutiny
At the national level, attention has turned to the Batang Toru river basin in South Tapanuli, North Sumatra. Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq announced plans for an immediate on-site inspection.
"Those responsible for this environmental damage must be held accountable," Hanif said.
He explained that the Batang Toru landscape spans 340,000 hectares, forming a V-shaped catchment covering North, Central and South Tapanuli.
Hanif said that severe forest loss upstream, combined with downstream forest capacity reduced to 38 percent, has stripped the landscape of its ability to retain water. Extreme rainfall of 300 millimeters per day on 24-25 November 2025, along with logs swept downriver, pushed catastrophic volumes of water and debris into populated zones.
He noted that land clearing in the Batang Toru area has been driven by hydropower development, industrial forestry plantations and palm-oil estates.
"These land-use changes raise concerns that Batang Toru's ecosystem can no longer function as a water buffer," he explained.
The Environment Ministry classified the rainfall levels as extreme, with North Sumatra receiving 300-400 mm per day, far above the normal threshold.
Sibolga, a small watershed city, recorded over 300 mm in a single day, triggering fatal landslides.
Several areas in Aceh recorded 303 mm, which resulted in 9.7 billion cubic meters of rainfall falling over a 3.3-million-hectare landscape.
West Sumatra also registered rainfall exceeding 300 mm, approaching 400 mm, contributing to its high death toll.
BNPB linked the disaster to Tropical Cyclone Senyar, a rare system forming near the equator and considered part of a broader climate-change impact pattern.
"While mitigation remains important, we must urgently prioritize climate adaptation," Hanif said.
From mitigation to local adaptation
Minister Hanif urged a fundamental shift in Indonesia's climate approach, arguing the country is still too focused on global mitigation efforts such as emissions reduction while neglecting essential local adaptation.
He also criticized the lack of progress in UN climate negotiations.
"Sumatra is a warning from nature. The climate crisis has surpassed the capacity of any single country, made worse by global unpreparedness," he said.
Negotiations remain stalled following COP30 in Belem, Brazil, which ended without a shared global roadmap. The United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement has further widened the gap between developed and developing countries.
As the world remains divided, Hanif warned, hydrometeorological disasters will continue to intensify in tropical nations like Indonesia, positioned between two major oceans.