Indonesia 2021 © MSF

Indonesia

Responding to emergencies while building local capacity

News update

Devastating floods from Cyclone Senyar leave health centers non-functional and buried in mud

February 17, 2026 — Extreme rainfall from Cyclone Senyar in November 2025 caused devastating floods in Indonesia. As of January, more than 130,000 people have been displaced, and another 1,000 people have died across the three heavily impacted provinces. When Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams arrived at the flood-impacted region of Aceh Tamiang in early December, 17 of the region’s 19 health facilities were no longer functional. In response to the needs, MSF teams set up mobile clinics, supported a measles vaccination campaign, and provided mental health care. To help flood-damaged health centers return to their full capacity, MSF provided generators and Starlink internet connectivity as well as operational support and data collection.

Our work in Indonesia

In Indonesia, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs training programs on emergency preparedness and response in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, provincial and district health offices, health centers, local NGOs, and other partners.

What's happening in Indonesia?

Extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change have had disastrous public health impacts across the Asia Pacific region, including Indonesia. In late November 2025, Cyclone Senyar brought extreme rainfall to parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. In Indonesia, the cyclone triggered catastrophic flooding across three provinces on Sumatra Island: Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. According to the Indonesian authorities, more than 1,100 people died, and over a million were displaced as of late December.

How we're helping in Indonesia

MSF responded to Cyclone Senyar in close coordination with the Ministry of Health Crisis Center and local health authorities. We provide psychological first aid, water and sanitation supplies, and support to reactivate health care centers, in addition to running mobile clinics. We also distributed hygiene and debris-cleaning kits.

Working with a local partner, MSF assisted Rohingya communities in Aceh and Riau provinces. We ran mobile clinics, trucked in clean water, distributed maternal, newborn, and first aid kits, and provided emergency response training.

In West Papua, we supplied hygiene kits to a local organization working in flood-affected communities in Wamena district, Jayawijaya regency. We also conducted medical surveillance for malaria and dengue in the highland villages of Nipsan and Talambo, and training sessions on basic medical care for community partners.

To build capacity in Indonesia for responding to emergencies, MSF carried out training programs focused on emergency preparedness and rapid response, and supported the rehabilitation of health centers after Cyclone Senyar. The sessions covered medical emergencies, mental health awareness and psychosocial support, medical waste management in health care facilities during crises, and the use of geographical information systems and data collection.

We conducted this training through MSF’s emergency preparedness project in Maluku, West Sulawesi, Aceh, and West Java. We made the decision to close the project at the end of the year, handing over all training tools and materials to the Ministry of Health’s Health Crisis Center.

*Data from MSF International Activity Report 2025

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