People resting inside a warehouse on Dec 7, 2025, being used as a temporary shelter following flash floods in Batang Toru, South Tapanuli, North Sumatra. - Reuters
MEDAN: The Medan city administration in North Sumatra has cancelled its planned New Year’s Eve celebrations following public backlash, as the region continues to recover from widespread flooding and landslides.
Head of the Medan Tourism Agency Odi Aggia Batubara said the proposed event, known as the Year-End Festival, sparked criticism from residents who viewed it as insensitive to the thousands of people still affected by the recent disasters.
“After considering public input and the condition of disaster survivors, we decided to cancel the event,” Batubara said.
Batubara said the city administration would replace the New Year celebrations with more subdued and reflective activities, including fundraising initiatives for residents affected by the disasters.
“The concept will shift to mass prayers in the morning and a night-time vigil featuring videos on the disasters, mitigation efforts and environmental awareness,” he said.
“The programme will end no later than 8.30pm, with no fireworks or musical or dance performances.”
Initially, the Medan city administration had planned to hold a public New Year’s Eve festival featuring concerts by popular Indonesian singers. The event was set to culminate in a fireworks display and was estimated to cost the city around 1.2 billion rupiah (US$72,00).
City councillor Roby Barus welcomed the cancellation, calling it the right decision given that Medan remains under disaster emergency status following the recent flooding.
“Medan’s administration should not stage lavish year-end celebrations while residents are being affected by disasters,” Barus said.
“People need assistance, not entertainment. Disaster victims are suffering and require our help, not festivities.”
The northern and western regions of Sumatra suffered widespread devastation after a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca Strait, unleashing a week of torrential rain and strong winds that triggered extensive flooding and landslides late November.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the heavy rains and flooding affected around 1.5 million people across Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, forcing approximately one million residents to evacuate.
As at Dec 18, the disaster had claimed at least 1,059 lives across the three provinces, with 192 people still reported missing.
In Medan alone, the disaster killed 13 people and caused losses estimated at more than 174.6 billion rupiah.
Meanwhile, across North Sumatra province, 366 people were reported dead, 72 missing and 2,287 injured.
As at Dec 18, more than 24,000 people remained displaced across North Sumatra, with at least 15 villages still cut off by landslide debris, primarily in Central Tapanuli and North Tapanuli regencies.
Authorities reported that many evacuees were experiencing health problems, including upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea, skin conditions and gastritis.
Displaced residents have also raised concerns about inadequate nutrition, saying they have relied largely on instant noodles with little protein or other essential nutrients in the three weeks since the disaster. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
