Indonesia
Archipelago
Months of frustration boiled over into a mass protest on Monday involving at least 500 residents in North Sumatra's Langkat regency, where over 73,000 survivors are still waiting for their data to be verified before the government could release recovery aid following the November 2025 disaster.
A partially collapsed house stands vacant on Jan. 29, 2026, in the village of Garoga village in Batang Toru district, South Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, just over two months since massive flooding and landslides swept across three northern provinces on Sumatra in late November 2025. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
Hundreds of survivors of the November 2025 flooding and landslides in Langkat, North Sumatra, staged a protest on Monday to demand the immediate disbursement of government aid, saying they had been waiting over eight months for assistance since the disaster had devastated the regency.Around 500 protesters blocked the Trans-Sumatra Highway in Besitang district, bringing traffic to a standstill for several hours as they demanded that the government immediately release the promised financial assistance of around Rp 9 million (US$530) for each affected family.
