Abstract
Dear Editor,
The 2025 to 2026 floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra revealed significant issues in Indonesia’s disaster response system, particularly for older people. The floods and landslides occurred primarily between late November and mid‑December 2025, with peak impacts documented from 24 November to 12 December 2025.
According to official statistics, the catastrophe had led to over a thousand deaths and massive damage to infrastructure. Although more than 900 deaths were reported, no official agency, including Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB), Badan Nasional Pencarian dan Pertolongan (Basarnas), or the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA, 2026), released age-disaggregated mortality data. Therefore, the proportion of older adults among the fatalities cannot be determined from currently available evidence. Therefore, the proportion of older adults among the fatalities cannot be determined from currently available evidence. Recovery efforts are estimated to take 2 to 3 years (ANTARA News, 2026).
As of January 2026, a total of over 238,000 people were still living in displacement, including many older adults, who faced daunting obstacles to obtaining necessities such as food, sanitation, and medical attention. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Situation Report painstakingly detailed the presence of serious obstacles preventing vulnerable groups, namely older people and disabled people, from receiving humanitarian relief to which they had a desperate need. A significant proportion of these people reported unmet needs and worryingly, that they were abused during the process in trying to get hold of the assistance offered to them (UNOCHA, 2026). The damage inflicted on the local health services also worsened the disturbance of care continuity, which was particularly hard on patients with chronic illness. Overcrowded shelters also turned into hotspots for widespread respiratory infections, diarrhea, and skin diseases disorders that by nature present a higher risk of morbidity among the older adults (UNOCHA, 2026).
Broader analyses of flood impacts in Sumatra have shown that storm-driven devastation can cut off the entire village. This situation undoubtedly makes it more difficult for many older adults to get out of the way, as they have less mobility. Apart from the problem of not having access to medicines, the inability to move around due to a lack of transportation, and the deaths that come as a result of not being able to communicate, all of these have led to the evacuation being late and the risk of dying becoming very high (Plan International, 2025). Listening to the inhabitants, there were quite a number of older people who, because the water had rushed so quickly, found it very difficult to reach a place of safety (Al Jazeera Staff, 2025). This was a very serious situation, showing glaring gaps in evacuation planning that are meant to be inclusive of everyone.
Indonesia’s Law No. 24/2007 requires the government and the country to engage in comprehensive mitigation, preparedness, and response. However, the evaluation of the law’s implementation indicates that much work remains in pre-disaster mitigation, spatial planning, and, in particular, community preparedness. These shortcomings contribute to older adults being among the groups most at risk during disasters (Simanjuntak, 2025).
Because of these difficulties in the structure, the implementation of age-sensitive disaster strategies is hampered, and thus, older residents face unnecessary health and safety risks.
One way to identify and address disparities is to include older adults in a disaster management plan. Hence, disaster response strategies must include geriatric-focused vulnerability assessments as a compulsory element of all evacuation and shelter procedures. Emergency shelters should be equipped with accessible toilets, adequate lighting, and well-designed sleeping areas. Regular supply of medication and management of chronic illnesses is a must to keep older patients from deteriorating their health condition during evacuation. Moreover, emphasizing community-based preparedness through caregiver and local health worker training will greatly enhance both readiness and response at home. Putting a gerontologist on the staff of provincial disaster management units will go a long way toward ensuring that disaster planning takes into account the needs of older adults and supports a more transparent, inclusive process.
As Indonesia deals with climate change-related disasters that are getting more and more severe, it is very important to implement age-responsive methods to protect older adults from getting sick or dying due to such disasters. Ensuring that disaster policy and practice account for the vulnerabilities of aging populations will help establish a fairer, more disaster-resilient national response system.
