The floods that devastated parts of Sumatra in late 2025, triggered by unusually intense monsoon rains and a rare tropical cyclone, have left thousands in Aceh province struggling with prolonged displacement and growing frustration over the pace of recovery.
About 26,000 people remain displaced months after the deluge struck villages across the island. In Aceh, the hardest-hit province, more than 1,000 people were killed.
Many families are still living in temporary shelters and tent clusters, with little clarity on when they can return home.
Normally, Indonesian mother-of-four Rauzah would prepare a feast for her family to break their Ramadan fast. This year, Rauzah cooks what she can inside an orange tent, where they have sheltered for nearly three months.
Seated on a thin carpet covering a cardboard floor, Rauzah and her four children share an iftar meal of vegetables and prawns. “I still feel traumatised,” said the 42-year-old, who goes by one name. “Whenever it rains, I get anxious. I keep thinking about the children, about how I would save them.”
In Pidie Jaya district, Rauzah said little has changed since the floods. “My village still looks as if the disaster just happened,” Rauzah said. “The houses are still buried in mud.”
As donations dwindle, survivors question how long they will remain in limbo after the worst disaster to strike Aceh since the 2004 tsunami.
President Prabowo Subianto has rejected calls to declare a national disaster, which would unlock additional emergency funds, and has declined international assistance, describing the situation as “under control”.
Unusually intense monsoon rains hit parts of South and Southeast Asia in November and December 2025, triggering landslides and floods from Indonesia’s rainforests to plantations in Sri Lanka.
Across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, more than 1,200 people were killed and nearly 140 remain missing, according to the national disaster agency, Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB).
Authorities have partly blamed uncontrolled logging for the scale of devastation and have revoked forestry permits in response. Even so, they have dismissed international aid offers, despite reconstruction costs surpassing 51.82 trillion rupiah, or about 3.1 billion US dollars.
In Banda Aceh, student groups and civil society organisations have staged protests at the local parliament, calling for greater mobilisation of national resources.
Aceh was previously rebuilt with international assistance after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which killed more than 170,000 people in the province. Although that disaster helped end a decades-long separatist conflict, mistrust of Jakarta persists.
“The government programmes are slow, we don’t know where the problem comes from,” said local imam Fakhri.
Fakhri said provisions from a government-backed agency stopped shortly before Ramadan began. With rice fields destroyed, “many people are out of work”. “(We) rely solely on charity.”
Rauzah had hoped her children would have more secure accommodation by now. “I really hope the temporary shelters are finished soon. Because in the tent we can’t rest. It’s so hot we can’t sleep,” Rauzah said.
Home Minister Tito Karnavian, who leads a reconstruction task force in Sumatra, told lawmakers on 18th February that 8,300 temporary structures have been built, roughly half of the 16,688 planned.
Fewer than 10% of the 16,300 permanent homes promised by the government have been completed.
Reni, 37, and her teenage daughters were relocated last month to a temporary housing warehouse in Pidie Jaya. “We’re grateful that at least we have a place like this now, but still, a lot of the promises weren’t kept,” Reni said.
Reni said authorities had promised a cafeteria and a daily allowance of 15,000 rupiah, but neither materialised. “If the authorities were not going to provide these, don’t give us hope” by making promises, Reni said.
Reni also worries about paying for electricity once a three-month government subsidy expires. “There’s still a lot of mud in the villages,” Reni said.
For Fakhri, the imam, this Ramadan is another difficult one. “This is our fate as Acehnese,” Fakhri said. “For now, we simply make the most of what little we have.
About the Author
