Floods And Landslides Paralyze 3 Provinces, Civil Coalition Urges Prabowo To Set A National Emergency

Photo of the air from the Kuta Blang bridge that was cut off due to flooding on the Banda Aceh - North Sumatra National Cross Road in Blang Mee Village, Kuta Blang District, Bireuen Regency, Saturday (29/11/2025). BETWEEN PHOTO/Abyyu/Lmo/bar

The Aceh civil society coalition asked President Prabowo Subianto to immediately establish a national disaster emergency status for the floods and landslides that hit West Sumatra, North Sumatra, and Aceh.

"We urge the President of the Republic of Indonesia to immediately establish a national disaster emergency status for the major floods that hit Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra," said Aceh Transparency Society Coordinator (MATA), Alfian, in Banda Aceh, quoted from Antara, Sunday, November 30.

The civil society coalition that cares about this disaster consists of LBH Banda Aceh, Mate, AJI Banda Aceh, YKPI, and ICAIOS.

Alfian said that large floods and landslides in the three provinces had had tremendous impacts, ranging from casualties, infrastructure damage, property losses, to the paralysis of economic and social life in the community.

Until now, thousands of residents are still isolated, tens of thousands of houses have been submerged, as well as various public facilities such as schools, hospitals, bridges, and national roads.

"In a number of areas, access to transportation is completely cut off so logistical assistance cannot be distributed," he said.

According to him, the situation is getting worse due to the scarcity of basic needs, power outages, and the paralysis of the communication network, thus hampering emergency handling.

Alfian assessed that the capacity of local governments is no longer adequate to deal with large-scale disasters, especially with limited provincial fiscal conditions, especially Aceh.

Meanwhile, LBH Banda Aceh advocate Rahmad Maulidin explained that the determination of a national disaster emergency has a legal basis in Law Number 24 of 2007 concerning Disaster Management, Government Regulation Number 21 of 2008, Government Regulation Number 17 of 2018, and other guidelines.

He said there were a number of indicators for determining the national disaster emergency such as the number of fatalities, the number of refugees on a large scale, significant material losses, wide coverage of affected areas, and disruption of public services and government.

The status determination was also carried out when the provincial government was no longer able to mobilize human resources, logistics, evacuation, rescue, and fulfill basic needs.

"Especially Aceh, several districts/cities have stated that they are unable to handle this disaster. Facts in the field show that the evacuation and fulfillment of logistics has not been maximized due to transportation and telecommunications constraints," he said.

Based on these conditions, the civil society coalition urges President Prabowo to establish a national disaster emergency status as a form of state presence in fulfilling the basic rights of the affected communities.

“Selain itu, kami mendorong Gubernur Aceh, Sumatera Utara, dan Sumatera Barat untuk bersama-sama meminta Presiden menetapkan status darurat bencana nasional,” kata Rahmad.

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"In addition, we encourage the Governors of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra to jointly ask the President to establish a national disaster emergency status," said Rahmad.