Sultan Abdurrahman, Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has reiterated that the government is handling the floods and landslides that struck parts of Sumatra in November 2025 seriously, despite not declaring the disasters a national emergency.
Speaking at a disaster management coordination meeting in Aceh on Thursday, January 1, 2026, Prabowo addressed public criticism over the absence of national disaster status for the affected areas.
"Some people continue to ask why this has not been declared a national disaster," Prabowo said, as quoted by the Presidential Secretariat.
He explained that Indonesia's disaster classification system takes into account the scale of impact and the capacity of regional governments. The recent disasters, he said, affected three provinces, while the country has 38 provinces in total.
"If the affected provinces are still able to manage the situation with national support, then there is no need to declare a national disaster," Prabowo said.
Prabowo stressed that the lack of national disaster status does not diminish the government's commitment to recovery efforts. He pointed to the presence of multiple cabinet members in the disaster-hit areas as evidence of the administration's seriousness.
"Today, how many ministers are here? Two are in North Aceh, and around 10 ministers are currently in Aceh," he said.
He added that the government is simultaneously responding to disasters in other regions and remains committed to assisting all affected communities across Indonesia.
Prabowo also said the government has allocated a significant budget for disaster management and is open to support from the public and private sectors, including donations and partnerships.
His remarks come amid criticism from local officials. North Aceh Regent Ismail Jalil previously said the flash floods that struck his region in November 2025 caused damage comparable to major past disasters, arguing that the central government's response appeared limited.
Ismail said the flooding affected areas from upstream to downstream but failed to draw national attention due to widespread power outages and the loss of telecommunications services.
"It didn't go viral because there was no electricity and no mobile signal," Ismail said during a post-disaster recovery coordination meeting broadcast live on the House of Representatives' official YouTube channel on Tuesday, December 30, 2025.
"That may be why it seemed like the central government was absent."
– Ervana Trikarinaputri contributed to the writing of this article.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2077490/prabowo-defends-decision-not-to-declare-national-disaster-in-sumatr