President Prabowo to Increase Disaster Mitigation Budget

Jakarta: President Prabowo Subianto presided over a limited cabinet meeting regarding natural disaster management in Indonesia. The disasters discussed included the earthquake in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, forest and land fires and haze.

"It is our destiny as a nation situated on the Ring of Fire, we must be prepared to face such situations at any time. This serves as a lesson for us -,for the government I lead,- that we must significantly increase the budget allocation for disaster mitigation," said Prabowo during a Metro TV Breaking News broadcast on Monday, September 7, 2026.

Prabowo noted that increasing the mitigation budget would enhance Indonesia's capacity to handle disasters. Furthermore, he highlighted that the government is responding to disasters more quickly than in previous years.

He cited the response to flash floods in Sumatra ,specifically in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, as examples. The disaster response effort was both massive and rapid. Prabowo expressed his gratitude to all parties who worked hard.

"We restored the situation in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra using our own resources. In my view, we were quite successful; we managed the crisis, and I extend my thanks to all involved," the Head of State said.

He believes a similarly massive effort is being applied to handling forest and land fires, although he acknowledged delays in certain sectors. However, Prabowo stated he would take note of these delays to implement anticipatory measures in the future.

"I ask that we adopt a 'better to have more than less' principle in our planning. This means and I am instructing the State Secretary (Prasetyo Hadi), the Finance Minister (Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa), and the Minister of National Development Planning/Bappenas (Rachmat Pambudy) on this—that having more helicopters, more Water pumps, and more firefighters is better," Prabowo stated.