Arya News - Three Aceh regents have signed circulars admitting their limited disaster response capacity, with many villages still cut off even seven days after the disaster. The letters detail damage to infrastructure, disrupted health services, impaired transportation, and paralysed economic activity.
JAKARTA – With at least 712 dead and hundreds more missing from floods and landslides across northern Sumatra, regional leaders have admitted that they cannot handle the crisis alone, underscoring deep budgetary and logistical gaps in disaster response.
Three Aceh regents, Central Aceh’s Haili Yoga, South Aceh’s Mirwan MS and Pidie Jaya’s Sibral Malasyi, have signed circulars admitting their limited disaster response capacity, with many villages still cut off even seven days after the disaster. The letters detail damage to infrastructure, disrupted health services and impaired transportation, along with paralyzed economic activity.
Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf even broke down in tears as he described the devastation from last week’s floods and landslides, calling the catastrophe a “second tsunami” that wiped out several villages, leaving large parts of the province in ruins. He said the immediate priority was restoring access to isolated areas across 18 regencies and municipalities.
However, East Aceh Regent Iskandar Usman Al Farlaky revealed on Tuesday that fellow regents were struggling due to a lack of heavy equipment and insufficient budgets.
“Although we have heavy equipment, much of it is damaged and unusable. Budget-wise, it is impossible for a region with a contingency budget allocation of only Rp 2 billion [US$120,461] to handle the situation,” Iskandar said, referring to the regency’s allocation for unforeseen expenses, as quoted by Tribunnews.com.
Under President Prabowo Subianto ’s administration, regional government budgets have been significantly reduced this year, with further cuts planned for 2026, affecting both revenue-sharing funds and regional transfer funds.
Calls for national emergency
As of Tuesday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported 712 fatalities across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. At least 472 people remain missing, more than 2,600 have been injured and thousands of items of infrastructure damaged across 50 regencies.
The rising death toll has amplified calls for the central government in Jakarta to declare the crisis a national disaster.
“We urge the government to declare a national emergency so that domestic and foreign forces can be mobilized to help the victims,” Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said on Tuesday.
He criticized the government’s reluctance to implement the emergency state, while pointing that the disasters were “caused by the government’s own extractive industry policies.”
West Sumatra Governor Mahyeldi Ansharullah also requested a national disaster declaration, noting the widespread destruction. “The Regional Representative Council [DPD] should push [the central government] to declare a national disaster,” he said, as quoted by Kompas TV.
East Aceh Regent Iskandar added that without central support, regional administrations could quickly become overwhelmed. “If the central government leaves us to fend for ourselves, frankly speaking, in two or three days, I too will raise the white flag and surrender to this situation”.
Prabowo, who visited the region on the sixth day of the disaster, downplayed calls for a national emergency status, saying “the situation is improving, and the current [province-level emergency status] is sufficient.”
Budget concerns
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said last week that relief funding would come from the BNPB and the Social Affairs Ministry budget, noting that the BNPB has “around Rp 500 billion” readily available in addition to the spending budgets of affected regional governments.
“If additional funds are needed, we are ready to provide them. It has been budgeted, and it all depends on how much the BNPB requests” the minister said, indicating the state is prepared to allocate resources beyond the agency’s annual budget.
Like regional governments, the BNPB has also faced steep budget cuts, with its 2025 spending capped at Rp 2.01 trillion, less than half of last year’s Rp 4.92 trillion. Its spending budget was set even lower for next year, at just Rp 491 billion.
Andalas University economist Syafruddin Karimi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that a 2007 law allows the state to set aside emergency funds for immediate disaster response.
He said the central government’s cautious approach budget-wise may be driven by fiscal risks, large-scale project commitments, budget deficit concerns and sovereign credit ratings.
“This sends the wrong signal, prioritizing numerical stability over human safety and local economic recovery. […] The state can only truly be present when political courage outweighs administrative convenience,” Syafruddin said.
Meanwhile, the Center for Economic and Law Studies (Celios) called for an “immediate moratorium on mining permits and the expansion of palm oil plantations”, citing extractive activities as a trigger for the disaster.
Celios estimated the disasters would cause national economic losses of Rp 68.67 trillion, with Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra projected to lose Rp 2.2 trillion, Rp 2.07 trillion and Rp 2.01 trillion, respectively.
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