Indonesia accelerates food aid and agricultural recovery for earthquake-affected East Nusa Tenggara

NTT earthquake: Indonesia steps up food aid, farm recovery

Indonesia's Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has committed to maintaining emergency food supplies and accelerating agricultural rehabilitation for communities devastated by the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck East Nusa Tenggara on August 15, 2026.

The earthquake, which occurred at 05:58 local time with its epicenter approximately 30 kilometers northeast of Mbay in Nagekeo Regency, claimed 111 lives and injured 1,666 people, while displacing approximately 175,909 residents across the affected regencies. The disaster also damaged roughly 95,500 homes, with 27,400 either collapsed or severely damaged.

Speaking during a hearing with Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta on Tuesday, Amran, who also leads the National Food Agency (Bapanas), emphasized that food security for disaster-affected populations remains a critical national priority.

The Agriculture Ministry is committed to continuing to support the government's efforts to ensure that the food needs of disaster-affected communities are met.

The minister outlined that government intervention extends beyond immediate emergency food distribution to include restoring agricultural production capacity, enabling local economies to recover more rapidly. While damage assessments for cropland across Flores Island continue, cross-agency coordination is underway to support farming communities navigating the aftermath.

Recovery efforts face ongoing challenges as the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has recorded 8,794 aftershocks as of August 29, with tremors expected to persist for up to a month. Additionally, landslides triggered by the earthquake have blocked sections of the Trans-Flores Highway, a roughly 700-kilometer road linking communities across the mountainous island, complicating logistics and aid distribution.

May the people facing this disaster be given strength, fortitude, and protection, and may the post-disaster management and recovery process proceed quickly and smoothly.

Emergency food distribution progresses across seven regencies

The National Logistics Agency (Bulog), Indonesia's state logistics corporation responsible for managing national food stocks and distributing emergency aid during disasters, reported that food assistance has reached communities across all seven earthquake-affected regencies: Ende, Sikka, Manggarai, East Manggarai, Nagekeo, Ngada, and West Manggarai.

Bulog President Director Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani confirmed that logistics operations had delivered 1,321.55 tons of rice and 7,000 liters of cooking oil to the region as of September 1, 2026.

The rice reserves distributed comprised 881.98 tons from the Emergency Food Reserve (CBP), 101.8 tons from local government reserves, and 472.98 tons from national food assistance programs. Bulog had maintained rice reserves of between 35,000 and 37,000 metric tons in East Nusa Tenggara Province at the time of the earthquake, which officials deemed sufficient for immediate relief operations.

Bulog confirmed that cooking oil distribution in designated areas had achieved 100 percent of the target.

The earthquake also triggered a tsunami with a maximum recorded height of 1.61 meters at multiple coastal locations across East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi provinces, compounding challenges for coastal agricultural and fishing communities.

Amran holds dual responsibilities as both Agriculture Minister and Head of Bapanas, a non-ministerial government agency established in 2021 to coordinate food availability, supply and price stabilization, food security, and food safety nationwide. He was appointed to lead Bapanas in October 2025 under President Prabowo Subianto's administration.