BNPB Denies Sumatran Disaster Refugees Were Evicted from Temporary Housing

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has responded to a circulating video purportedly showing a disaster-affected resident claiming she was asked to return to an evacuation tent after receiving the keys to a temporary housing unit (huntara). According to BNPB Head of the Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Centre Abdul Muhari, the information is untrue.

“That certainly did not happen,” he said in a statement quoted on Tuesday, 24 February 2026. He admitted he had not yet seen the video featuring the disaster-affected resident from Aceh Tamiang.

However, Abdul said that in principle, the government’s construction of temporary housing is intended to provide shelter for displaced persons. “The temporary housing is precisely meant so that no one has to stay in evacuation tents any longer,” he said.

The video in question, showing an elderly woman allegedly evicted from temporary housing, was uploaded by the Instagram account @mufaiisme. The caption stated that a grandmother who had already received her temporary housing keys was asked to return to living in an evacuation tent. The video had been viewed by 53,000 users and received 144 comments.

The short video shows an elderly woman standing alone in front of an orange evacuation tent. She is then asked by the person recording whether she was told to return to the tent after receiving keys to occupy temporary housing. The woman simply nods in affirmation. The video does not identify who instructed the disaster-affected resident to return to the tent.

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian said he was not yet aware of the reports. “Social media sometimes differs from the facts on the ground. I will look into it,” Tito said on Sunday, 22 February 2026.

According to data from the Task Force for the Acceleration of Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sumatra as of early February, total temporary housing construction across the three provinces reached 17,499 units, of which 4,263 had been completed, equivalent to 24 per cent of the total plan.

In detail, Aceh Province has completed 3,248 units out of a total of 15,934 planned temporary housing units. North Sumatra has recorded progress of 539 completed units out of 947 planned, or 57 per cent. West Sumatra meanwhile has 476 temporary housing units completed out of 618 planned, equivalent to 77 per cent.