Reflecting On The Pandemic, Mendes PDT Invites Village Heads To Use Village Funds For Sumatra Disaster Recovery

JAKARTA - Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions (Mendes PDT), Yandri Susanto gave flexibility to village heads (kades) in areas affected by the Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra disasters to be able to use village funds as a revitalization of disaster management.

"Yes, village heads may (use village funds). In the past, the COVID-19 [pandemic] was used," said Yandri in Tangerang, Friday, as reported by Antara.

According to him, this policy is intended to accelerate the quick response to the handling of the impact of the disaster, considering that village funds are the fastest source of funding accessible to the village government to meet urgent needs.

In addition to encouraging the use of the Village Fund, Yandri is also focusing efforts to send aid directly to the disaster site.

"With the help of here and there, God willing, ensure that all services will return to normal. We at the Ministry of Villages continue to need donations," he said.

He said that currently the biggest challenges after disasters in Sumatra and Aceh were the number of villages that were physically and administratively lost due to the destruction of infrastructure and paralyzed government.

Therefore, the Ministry has coordinated with cross-ministerial/institutional and local governments to immediately restore the lost and affected villages.

"The current homework is that many villages are missing. The government is paralyzed. Maybe we will focus on it now," he said.

In this case, the government's handling of the emergency response phase is now moving towards medium-term recovery and rehabilitation.

The priority, he said, was to restore the function of village government, health services, education, and logistics distribution that were hampered by disasters.

"This step is expected to be an initial stimulus for the village community to rebuild their lives and economy, while still prioritizing the principle of mutual cooperation and citizen participation in the recovery process," he said.