In Aceh, a region in northern Indonesia, the effects of severe floods and landslides that occurred in November 2025 are still being addressed. The Masyarakat Pernaskahan Nusantara (Manassa), an organization dedicated to preserving historical manuscripts, has identified 520 affected manuscripts spread across nine districts or cities in the province. Working alongside the UIN Ar-Raniry, a local university, and the Indonesian National Library, conservators and researchers are working to salvage what they can and develop a plan to handle future disasters. The damaged manuscripts are not all from a single source; they are scattered among individuals, organizations, and public collections. This dispersion means the first step is to inventory and assess the condition of each document before deciding on the best way to treat them. Hermansyah, president of Manassa Aceh and a philology teacher at UIN Ar-Raniry in Banda Aceh, explains that the restoration efforts will depend on the level of degradation each manuscript has suffered. The project involves the Balai Pelestarian Kebudayaan, an organization focused on cultural preservation, and the Indonesian National Library. Of the 520 identified manuscripts, 100 have been prioritized for immediate conservation, while 50 need new covers due to the damage they sustained. The condition of the remaining manuscripts will depend on both their physical state and the availability of resources. Hermansyah notes that some manuscripts are too damaged to be repaired at all. For the manuscripts that can still be saved, the restoration process begins with careful handling. Conservators gently open pages glued by water, clean them, and then dry them using specialized equipment. Any rapid or careless handling could cause further damage, such as tearing pages or losing text. These steps are carefully documented by the specialists involved in the process. The scale of the disaster became clear by the end of August 2025. A collaborative study involving the Indonesian national agency BRIN, Manassa, the Indonesian National Library, and the Faculty of Adab and Humaniora at UIN Ar-Raniry found that at least 520 manuscripts were affected across nine districts or cities in Aceh. Since then, the focus has expanded beyond just restoring the manuscripts: researchers are working on creating a protocol to protect documentary heritage from future hydrological disasters. Between August 25 and 31, an experimental approach was tested, including a portable, modular, and cost-effective drying chamber designed for use directly in affected areas. Aris Riyadi, a conservator at the Indonesian National Library, highlights that this new drying method is easier to transport than the freeze-drying equipment typically used for wet documents. Before any restoration, he emphasizes the need to quickly assess the damage and dry the manuscripts according to their condition. In May 2026, 130 manuscripts were treated by five conservators from the National Library, who worked at UIN Ar-Raniry on documents belonging to individuals from Pidie Jaya and Aceh Utara, both of which were affected by the floods. The teams observed the effects of high humidity, including mold growth, pages glued together, and weakened paper. Imam Supangat, head of the conservation team at the National Library, outlined a tailored procedure for each manuscript. After identifying the damage, the manuscripts were dried in a chamber, missing parts were filled in, overly acidic pages were neutralized, and detached pages were sewn back together. Covers and storage boxes were then added before the manuscripts were returned to their owners. In Aceh, a significant portion of the written heritage remains with families and communities rather than in institutional collections. UIN Ar-Raniry plans to build a comprehensive database of Aceh’s manuscripts, as well as those from the broader Indonesian archipelago. The program, conducted in collaboration with BRIN, aims to establish the university as a research center for ancient manuscripts and to develop recommendations that can be applied elsewhere in Indonesia. The 2025 disaster has led to two key initiatives: restoring the hundreds of damaged manuscripts and preparing a protocol to be ready for future disasters, ensuring that water does not have the final say in the preservation of Indonesia’s cultural heritage.