PRR Task Force: Life for Aceh Residents Post-Disaster Returning to Normal

The Chairman of Sumatra’s Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) Task Force, M. Tito Karnavian, has stated that life for the people of Aceh is already returning to normal following the flood and landslide disasters at the end of November 2025. “Essentially, we have returned to normal, but it is not yet permanent; it is a functional normality,” said M. Tito Karnavian in Banda Aceh on Tuesday. The statement was made after attending a coordination and evaluation meeting on the achievements of the handling and acceleration of recovery after the hydrometeorological disaster in Aceh, held at the Aceh Governor’s office. Tito stated that the evaluation meeting was conducted to review the progress of handling during the emergency response period through to the transition phase. The results revealed that many issues in Aceh still require immediate attention and are not yet fully ideal, such as schools still operating in tents or sharing premises with other schools, even though most pupils have returned to their original educational facilities. Other issues requiring urgent repair include roads, bridges, rivers, irrigation systems, drinking water supplies, fishponds, places of worship, madrasas, and permanent housing. “If we look at the available data indicators, the impact has indeed been quite massive in Aceh Province. Without diminishing the situations in North Sumatra and West Sumatra, I will also go there later,” he said. “We have been able to return the normal functions of community life, but there are still many unresolved problems,” he emphasised. He stressed that much needs to be improved in Aceh during the three-year post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction period for Sumatra, starting from mid-2026 until 2028. The approved rehabilitation and reconstruction budget, agreed by President Prabowo and the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), reaches Rp100 trillion over three years, with approximately Rp39 trillion for 2026, Rp32 trillion for 2027, and over Rp28 trillion for 2028. “Once the funds are disbursed from the Ministry of Finance to the ministries and institutions, we will automatically move quickly to execute the 11,512 programmes and activities across the three provinces. We will monitor progress every two weeks,” concluded Tito Karnavian.