November 29, 2025 | 08:21 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has dispatched eleven helicopters from Jakarta to expedite the relief efforts for the floods and landslides in Aceh, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra provinces.
"As of today, the government has dispatched 11 TNI and Basarnas (National Rescue and Search Agency) helicopters from Jakarta to the regions affected by the disasters," Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya revealed this in a statement on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
Teddy said nine helicopters had been on standby at the location since November 26, 2025, conducting simultaneous operations for the distribution of aid and disaster impact monitoring.
"And two additional helicopters departed for Aceh from Jakarta this morning," he said.
Teddy emphasized that all helicopters were focused on making continuous distribution of logistics, especially to the most remote areas and those with disrupted ground access. He further added that all aerial operations considered safety and weather conditions as top priorities.
"These helicopters have been flying around the disaster-stricken areas," he said.
President Prabowo Subianto mentioned that they could not yet confirm the declaration of the natural disaster emergency status in Sumatra.
The head of state said he would continue to monitor the situation in the disaster-struck areas.
"Yes, we are monitoring the situation continuously. We keep sending aid. We will assess the situation later," said Prabowo at the Bank Indonesia Building, Jakarta, on Friday, November 28, 2025.
The Head of State emphasizes that the government will continue to send aid to the communities affected by natural disasters.
The Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Lieutenant General TNI Suharyanto, earlier revealed the reasons why the government has yet to declare national disaster status for the floods and landslides in Sumatra.
According to Suharyanto, the disasters that have struck Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra still fall under the category of provincial-level regional disasters.
He explained that the disasters in these three regions seemed terrifying when information spread on social media. However, he claimed that the situation has improved.
"The national disaster status ever declared in Indonesia was the Covid-19 and the 2004 Aceh Tsunami," said Suharyanto in a press conference broadcast on BNPB's official YouTube channel on Friday, November 28, 2025.
Meanwhile, he went on, several disasters such as the Palu Earthquake, the earthquake in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), and the earthquake in Cianjur were not declared as national disasters.
Suharyanto said that the national disaster status is determined through various considerations, one of which is the scale of the casualties. Regarding the current disaster situation in Sumatra, he stated that it has not reached the threshold for declaring a national disaster status.
Hendrik Yaputra and Ervana Trikarinaputri contributed to the writing of this article
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