In late November 2025, the Senyar cyclone struck Indonesia, triggering widespread flooding and landslides across Aceh. The disaster devastated eighteen districts and cities, killing more than 1,000 people and displacing an estimated 3.3 million. Homes, farmland, roads, and public infrastructure were destroyed, leaving many communities isolated for weeks. Although images of the devastation briefly circulated in the media, national attention quickly faded, and the disaster was never declared a national emergency by the Indonesian government. As the floodwaters receded, the lives of those who survived were left largely unseen.
This project focuses on what remains after the disaster, where an excess of water during floods paradoxically led to a severe clean water crisis once the floods receded. Community wells were destroyed or contaminated by mud and debris, while government-managed water pipelines were damaged, cutting off villages from their main source of clean water. Families are forced to walk long distances to collect water, ration limited supplies, improvise simple filtration methods, or wait for increasingly infrequent clean water deliveries, while serious health risks continue to grow. According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Health, the disaster caused 8,026 cases of skin disease and 1,492 cases of acute diarrhea, making waterborne illness one of the greatest threats in affected areas. Among those affected, women, children, and infants have become particularly vulnerable, bearing a disproportionate burden of water scarcity and its health consequences.
Through a visual narrative approach, this project documents how survivors continue to endure in the absence of safe water. Rather than focusing on the dramatic moment of disaster, the work looks at the quieter realities of recovery, examining how communities navigate disrupted systems and ongoing uncertainty in their daily lives. It highlights clean water not only as a fundamental human right, but also as a cultural and spiritual element deeply embedded within Acehnese life, reflecting how climate-related disasters and unequal access to basic resources continue to shape the lives of those left behind long after the floodwaters recede.
This project is the result of a long-term assignment for The Associated Press and NRC NL, and supported in part by the Photo Humanity Grant from the Water for Life Grant Program 2026.
