North Tapanuli Disaster Recovery, BNPB: 770 Damaged Houses, 6 Starlink Units Operated

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has intensified efforts to recover after the flood disaster accompanied by landslides that have a significant impact in North Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra (North Sumatra).

Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Abdul Muhari said, in general, the development of recovery was running positively, only uncertain weather conditions, such as the rain that caused the water discharge to overflow again were still a challenge for the joint team of officers in the field.

BNPB confirmed that until Thursday, December 11, the joint officers team managed to find 13 residents who had previously been declared missing safely. Meanwhile, more than a thousand residents fled under the assistance of officers.

"The affected residents will get additional services at a number of evacuation points," he said in Jakarta, Friday, which was confiscated by Antara.

Temporary data collection noted that 770 housing units were affected by various levels of damage, accompanied by damage to public facilities such as schools, bridges, and roads which are now the focus of recovery.

In the access sector, Abdul explained that Tarutung-Sibolga Street can again be passed to Sitahuis District, although some points of damage need to be watched out for. A number of villages in Adiankoting and Parmonangan are still not accessible to vehicles so that logistics distribution is carried out by dropping helicopters.

In addition, he also reports that the electricity network has started to recover, such as in Adiankoting, the progress has reached 93 percent, while in Parmonangan it is only around 50 percent due to limited road access.

"To facilitate communication, five of the six Starlink units assisted by BNPB have been operating in the blank spot area," he said.

Abdul added that logistical support continues to be increased, including the distribution of 50 mattresses to the Lobupining refugee post and 30 mattresses to Sibalanga, as well as the provision of clean water from BBWS II to meet the needs of the refugees' hygiene.