After the emergency response ends, who will care for disaster victims?

The end of an emergency declaration does not mean earthquake victims in East Nusa Tenggara have recovered. That is the central warning from Basuki Supartono, a disaster studies professor at UPN Veteran Jakarta and a member of the BNPB steering element.

Indonesia extended the emergency response after the earthquake until Sept. 12, 2026. The decision supports ongoing disaster operations, but it also raises practical questions: what must be prepared, who will carry it out, and where will the funding come from? By Aug. 20, the National Disaster Management Agency had recorded 92,735 displaced people across the province.

Many needs continue long after the first response. Patients with broken bones may require further surgery and rehabilitation. Wounds need follow-up care. People with disabilities may need functional recovery and assistive devices. Patients with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and other chronic conditions still need medication. Pregnant women, babies and children require uninterrupted services, while psychological problems may persist or emerge after conditions begin to calm.

Shelter, clean water, transport and other necessities also remain essential. Yet precisely when these needs are still high, external assistance tends to fall. Visiting medical teams return home, emergency health posts close, logistics decline and media attention moves elsewhere. Local health systems then carry the burden. If emergency capacity is withdrawn faster than local capacity can recover, victims risk losing continuity of care.

The article argues that every disaster response should include recovery planning. Universities and academics can help make the transition smoother, but health academics should do more than act as volunteers, researchers or observers. They should help ensure that services established during the emergency continue after assistance decreases. Under Indonesia’s 2007 disaster-management law, response includes pre-disaster preparation, emergency response and post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction. Success should therefore be measured not only by evacuations, health posts or the speed of building field hospitals, but by whether the health system and the affected population actually recover.