The majority of the public expressed confidence that the government could handle the disasters in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra without foreign aid.
A Kompas Research and Development poll showed that 54.2 percent of respondents believed the government could handle the disasters in Sumatra without foreign aid.
Meanwhile, 25.2 percent of respondents stated they were unsure the government could handle the disasters without external support.
Meanwhile, 12.3 percent stated they were “Very confident,” 4.4 percent stated they were “Very unsure,” and 3.9 percent answered “Don’t know.”
Another poll also showed that the majority of the public believes the government is strongly committed to making disaster management in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra a national priority. Fifty-six percent of respondents expressed confidence in this commitment.
Of the 56.4 percent, 25.8 percent stated the government’s commitment was “Very strong,” while 30.6 percent said it was “Strong.”
Previously, Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin expressed readiness to handle natural disasters in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.
He emphasized that the Indonesian government still has the capacity to handle the disasters in Sumatra independently.
Sjafrie made this statement during a public lecture at Hasanuddin University, Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday (December 9, 2025).
“We have transportation equipment by land, sea, and air. We have sufficient logistics, we have sufficient medicines, we have medical personnel who are very supportive from universities, and we are collaborating on this to form a unified disaster management system,” said Sjafrie.
He explained that President Prabowo Subianto had conducted a comprehensive evaluation and confirmed that Indonesia now has sufficient capacity to deal with large-scale disasters.
