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View all search resultsSumatra flood survivors observe Ramadan with quiet resilience
Putri said observing the fast from an emergency tent is far from ideal. The shelter becomes stiflingly hot in the afternoon and uncomfortably cold at night. She also worries about the risk of wild animals entering her tent.
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Two children from Gampong Gunci village stand in a temporary housing complex in Sawang, North Aceh, Aceh, on Feb. 16, 2026. A total of 326 residents from 85 families have been living in the emergency shelters for three months after flash floods and landslides struck their village in late November 2025. They are scheduled to relocate to temporary housing at the start of Ramadan. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
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urvivors of the devastating Sumatra floods are beginning the holy month of Ramadan with quiet resilience, observing the fast in emergency shelters and with limited resources.
Putri Bariah, 34, an evacuee in Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh, said she never imagined she would mark Ramadan from inside an emergency tent.
The single mother of three said that in previous years, the early days of Ramadan were a cherished time when she and her siblings gathered at their parents’ home to break the fast and share the pre-dawn meal together.
But that tradition has come to an abrupt halt this year after both her home and her parents’ house were swept away by the massive floods that inundated their village in November last year.
“Only the cement structures and the floors remain. It breaks my heart to think about how we used to gather during Ramadan,” she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Since the disaster, Putri and her children have been staying in an emergency tent erected in front of the Aceh Tamiang Islamic Center, while her parents are now living with one of her siblings.
Putri said observing the fast from an emergency tent is far from ideal. The shelter becomes stiflingly hot in the afternoon and uncomfortably cold at night. She also worries about the risk of wild animals entering her tent.
