Gov’t Restores Electricity, Communication, Logistics Distribution in Disaster-Hit Areas

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno delivers a press statement at the National Disaster Relief Post, at Halim Perdanakusuma Airforce Base, Jakarta, Wednesday (12/03). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)

The Government continues to speed up distribution of aid to flood and landslide-affected regions and isolated areas. According to Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno, 500,000 tons of aid, consisting of staple food, ready-to-eat meals, medicines, tents, blankets, and other necessities have been distributed.

He added that the smooth distribution of basic necessities and provision of services throughout disaster-affected regions is continued to be ensured.

Pratikno went on to say that the Government is ensuring that the disaster-response command structure has been further strengthened in recent days through the activation of integrated posts at the provincial and district levels. National support posts of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), the National Police (Polri), and relevant ministries have also been established to ensure the smooth distribution of logistics.

The reinforced command structure improves the Government’s disaster relief response by the hour. Bearing in mind safeguarding residents and accelerating the restoration of daily life as the priority, the Government is also calling on all parties to stay united in supporting the recovery of affected communities.

“To ensure the implementation of aid distribution and evacuation, a A400 military transport aircraft has been deployed for a large-scale mobilization of logistics. More than 50 helicopters from the TNI, Polri, and BNPB are also being used to reach isolated areas. We have also reported on regions whose access has been cut off, such as Aceh Tamiang and Langsa, and as of yesterday, air-drops have been successfully carried out using Indonesian Air Force transport aircraft CN-295, A-2904, and the C-130J Super Hercules. This effort is supported by the delivery of logistics via sea routes using TNI ships and TNI transport vessels,” Pratikno said.

Also on that occasion, Pratikno stated that the TNI, Polri, and related institutions have established posts for logistics, health, military field kitchen, and the Nutritional Provision Service Unit (SPPG) kitchen.

He added that State-owned Enterprises have already made efforts to restore electricity, telecommunications, road access, and distribution of fuel. The efforts have also been speeded up, for instance repairing high-voltage transmission towers have been shortened from five to six days to just two or three days.

“We are targeting full restoration of the towers by Friday, December 5, 2025. The state-owned electricity company PLN has accelerated the repair work so that power lines in the Arun–Bireuen and Tarutung–Sibolga areas, which are still experiencing outages, can be restored as soon as possible,” he added.

The state-owned telecommunications company Telkom has deployed 2,498 personnel to speed up the restoration of telecommunications services in Sumatra Island. Coordinating Minister Pratikno noted that the delivery of fuel by land continues to be pursued by the state-owned oil company Pertamina with support from multiple agencies.

In addition to restoration efforts, the Government is also investigating reports of satellite-image analysis showing large logs being swept away by the floods. The Forest Area Enforcement Task Force has been deployed to ensure a strong enforcement of environmental governance.

“To date, the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force has taken actions to investigate the reports of floating large logs being swept along by the flood currents. The Government is continuing to investigate parties suspected of violations through satellite-image analysis,” he stated.

(BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RAS/MMB)