Damage caused by Cyclone Senyar in one of Indonesia’s worst-hit provinces will exceed US$ 9.1 billion (Rp153.3 trillion) after the Aceh government submitted its updated Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency yesterday.
“The Aceh government has submitted the R3P document to the central government through BNPB on February 3, 2026,” according to Muhammad MTA, government spokesperson, who said that Aceh, along with North and South Sumatra, was smashed by thousands of dislodged waterlogs, causing widespread damage to homes, bridges and community infrastructure
Wood Central understands that the latest figure comes after the Indonesian government pledged more than US $3.6 billion to assist with reconstruction in the days after Senyar swept through the islands. “We have prepared Rp 60 trillion,” President Yudhi Purbaya said in mid-December. “There is no issue with funding for rehabilitation,” he said.
Late last month, Indonesian communities affected by the damage were encouraged to use flood-damaged logs for reconstruction, a move backed by a presidential decree, according to Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian.
“The President’s policy, conveyed during a recent meeting in Hambalang, is that the timber logs can be used by the public or government for post‑disaster recovery,” Karnavian said after meeting with the government-appointed task force charged with rebuilding areas damaged by the cyclone.
As Head of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Post‑Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sumatra, Karnavian said large volumes of washed‑away logs were found along the East and North Aceh border: “Many have already been cut into planks for house construction, bridges, and other purposes.”
In December, Indonesian authorities cancelled more than 1.5 million hectares of forestry permits and launched a sweeping criminal probe after new research linked large‑scale illegal logging in North Sumatra to the catastrophic floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar — one of Southeast Asia’s deadliest natural disasters in 2025.
In late November, relentless rain hammered northern Sumatra for three straight days, with one district in Aceh Province recording 16 inches in a single day. Four villages were destroyed, and farther south, the storm unleashed another hazard: torrents of timber smashing into homes.
“When Cyclone Senyar made landfall, it sent logs and debris into residential areas of North Sumatra Province,” said Sarma Hutajulu, a volunteer helping clear wreckage in Tukka District who spoke to the New York Times. “Everywhere you look — left and right along the road — there are piles of timber. Those are what smashed into people’s homes.”
