INTERNATIONAL – Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto delivered a stark but determined assessment of the ongoing recovery in flood-ravaged parts of Sumatra, saying Monday that life and normal daily activity in the hardest-hit areas could return within two to three months following a disaster that has claimed more than 1,000 lives. The grim milestone — with the death toll at 1,030 and 206 people still missing — comes after torrential rains linked to a powerful storm unleashed floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra in late November, flattening homes and forcing survivors into crowded evacuation centres.
Prabowo spoke during a cabinet meeting in Jakarta, where he underscored that reconstruction is already under way in the three provinces affected, even as he acknowledged the scale of the task ahead. To illustrate the challenge, he quipped, “I don’t have the staff of Moses,” a reference to the biblical figure’s miracle-working reputation, adding “We cannot finish this in 3-5 days. Perhaps in 2-3 months, activities will return to normal.” His remarks reflected both urgency and realism about the long haul of rebuilding shattered infrastructure and community life across vast swaths of rural and urban terrain.
The administration has committed to constructing hundreds of temporary homes for those displaced, and senior government officials estimate that reconstruction will cost at least $3.11 billion — funds needed to restore roads, bridges, buildings and basic services destroyed by the floods.
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Environmental advocates sharply faulted deforestation linked to mining and logging for worsening the floods’ impact, saying the removal of trees made the land more vulnerable to runoff and landslides. In response, Indonesia’s environment ministry temporarily halted operations at companies accused of violations and said they will undergo environmental audits; Prabowo warned that any firm found to have breached rules should face permit revocation. The forest minister separately announced plans to revoke 22 forest use permits covering over 1 million hectares — including more than 100,000 hectares on Sumatra — though officials stopped short of drawing a direct causal line between those revocations and the floods.
Prabowo also said that while foreign leaders have offered assistance, Indonesia is confident in its capacity to manage the crisis. “I said, thanks for your concern, we can handle it,” he said, stressing that the situation is “under control” even as the scale of recovery remains massive.
As communities sift through debris and begin rebuilding homes and livelihoods, the president’s timeline offers a hopeful but cautious milestone — a horizon signifying not just physical reconstruction but the resilience of people facing one of the worst natural disasters in recent Indonesian history.
