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View all search resultsWomen bear brunt of Sumatra floods as basic needs remain unmet
The lack of privacy poses serious difficulties for women, especially breastfeeding mothers, while access to menstrual supplies remains one of the biggest challenges of the crisis.
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Masripah Batu Bara, 42, sits outside her heavily damaged house Dec. 7, 2025, following a deadly flash flood in Batang Toru, South Tapanuli, North Sumatra. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
K
asmoini, 38, and her child have spent more than two weeks in a crowded public tent in Padang Meuria village, Langkahan, North Aceh, following devastating floods and landslides in northern Sumatra caused by the rare Cyclone Senyar and worsened by environmental degradation.
She struggles to sleep each night in a shelter where men and women are forced to share the same space. “I feel anxious, especially because I still have a little child,” she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The lack of privacy poses serious difficulties for women, especially breastfeeding mothers, while access to menstrual supplies remains one of the biggest challenges of the crisis.
Cut Meutia, a volunteer with the Lhokseumawe Women Movement in North Aceh, described the situation as alarming.
“Food and medicine are available, but there are no proper shelters, clothing, clean water or sanitation for women. These are urgent issues that the government needs to address,” she said, warning that prolonged shortages could make women more vulnerable to illness.
Read also: Life in the dark: Northern Sumatra residents wait for a flicker of hope
Aceh emergency response spokesperson Murthalamuddin acknowledged that displaced women had not received adequate attention, despite women outnumbering men in evacuation shelters, noting that relief deliveries were hampered by blocked roads and landslides.
