171 Aceh Residents Still Living in Evacuation Tents, Minister Tito Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian said 43 families, or 171 people, in Aceh were still living in tents four months after the disaster, despite major progress in post-disaster recovery across the province.

Tito, who also chairs the Task Force for the Acceleration of Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) in Sumatra, said the figure was based on data as of March 24, 2026.

He said that of the 18 regencies and cities in Aceh affected by the disaster, evacuees remain only in Aceh Tamiang Regency and Bireuen Regency. No displaced residents were recorded in the other 16 areas.

According to Tito, the data shows that nearly all evacuees in Aceh have left emergency shelters. He noted that as of December 2, 2025, the number of evacuees in the province had reached around 107,820 families, or 1.4 million people.

“What we are seeing now is in Aceh Tamiang, specifically in Sekumur Village, Sekerak District, where there are 26 families or 96 people,” Tito said at a press conference on post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction in Sumatra at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Wednesday, March 25, 2026.

Tito said the nearly 100 evacuees in Aceh Tamiang are located in a remote area with limited access, making it difficult for the government to deliver logistics and begin construction of temporary shelters, locally known as huntara.

Once access is opened, he said, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) will be able to move in and build the temporary housing.

“So the process now is to build huntara. God willing, within two weeks at the latest,” Tito said.

In Bireuen, meanwhile, 17 families, or 75 people, are still displaced. Tito said they have remained in the camps because they do not want to receive transitional housing assistance and instead want to be moved directly into temporary shelters or permanent housing, known as huntap.

For the 26 families in Aceh Tamiang, the government plans to provide temporary shelters, which are targeted for completion within two weeks. For the 17 families in Bireuen, the government will prepare permanent housing, though Tito acknowledged the process will take longer.

“The solution for the 26 families is already there, it is being built. Next week, or within two weeks at the latest, it will be completed, and these 26 families will move into the huntara. No problem. As for the 17 families, because they want direct huntap, it naturally takes time, because building huntap takes more than a month,” he said.

Earlier, President Prabowo Subianto said post-disaster recovery in Aceh Tamiang Regency had reached nearly 100 percent. He said all affected residents had left emergency tents and moved into proper housing, including temporary shelters and permanent homes.

“Thank God, there are no more tents, 100 percent have left. All assistance has been given to the people,” Prabowo said after performing Eid al-Fitr prayers with residents at Darussalam Mosque, Kebun Tj Seumantoh, Karang Baru District, Aceh, on Saturday, March 21, 2026.

Flash floods and landslides struck northern Sumatra in late November 2025, affecting 52 regencies and cities across Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.

BNPB recorded that 18 regencies and cities in Aceh were affected, covering 203 districts and 3,046 villages. The disaster damaged a total of 81,654 houses in the province.

As of March 21, 2026, the death toll from the disaster in Aceh had reached 564, while 28 people remained missing nearly four months later.

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