The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsMitigation budget under scrutiny as Indonesia grapples with disasters
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Mount Anak Krakatau volcano spews hot lava as seen from Pasauran village in Serang, Banten on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (Reuters/Rikardo)
S
imultaneous volcano eruptions and a string of other disasters have put the government’s mitigation efforts under renewed scrutiny, as questions mount over whether Indonesia has invested enough in prevention despite its long history of natural disasters.
This week, disaster agencies are grappling with activity at several volcanoes, most prominently Mount Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait, which erupted once again on Tuesday morning after a continuous eruption over the weekend.
Anak Krakatau’s eruption spewed ash 15 kilometers into the sky and forced Indonesia’s main airports to close until Monday night, disrupting nearly 3,000 flights and affecting 341,000 passengers.
As of Tuesday evening, all the airports have now been reopened except for Wunopito Airport in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), which was closed due to the volcanic ash from Mount Ili Lewotolok.
The volcanic activities come as disaster workers are stretched across multiple emergencies, including forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan and recovery from a powerful earthquake in NTT in August.
The overlapping disasters have since drawn attention to the government’s preparedness, as disaster mitigation agencies were among those affected by austerity measures introduced in 2025 by President Prabowo Subianto’s administration to help fund his flagship programs.
The concerns had already surfaced in February, when the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Lt. Gen. Suharyanto lamented to lawmakers that the agency would receive only Rp 491 billion (US$27.8 million) for 2026, a nearly 75 percent drop from the previous year. Suharyanto warned at the time that the limited funding could hamper the country’s disaster mitigation efforts.
