BNPB Disburses Rp369.9 Billion for the Development of Damaged Houses after the Sumatra Disaster

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has disbursed stimulus funds for the construction of houses that are slightly to moderately damaged worth Rp369.9 billion for 17,251 heads of households (KK) affected by disasters from three provinces, namely Aceh, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra.

"Stimulus assistance for damaged houses today was distributed to 17,251 households in 25 affected districts/cities in Aceh, West Sumatra and North Sumatra. The total value of the assistance reached IDR 369.915 billion," said BNPB Head Suharyanto, in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, Friday, quoted by Antara.

Suharyanto made the statement during the distribution of assistance for light and medium damaged houses for people affected by the Sumatra disaster at the Lhokseumawe City Hall, Aceh.

Suharyanto said the stimulus funds of hundreds of billions were distributed Rp15 million per KK for lightly damaged houses and Rp30 million/KK for moderately damaged houses.

"There are still 24 regencies/cities that are in the process of verifying data and distribution will be carried out immediately next week," he said.

In the city of Lhokseumawe, there are 23 households receiving assistance for lightly damaged houses and 1,178 households receiving assistance for moderately damaged houses, with a total assistance of Rp. 35.685 billion.

This means that almost 90 percent of the applications from the Mayor of Lhokseumawe have been approved, only 21 KK still need to be re-verified and will receive it immediately after the verification process is completed.

Suharyanto explained that the verification process was carried out in stages from bottom to top. A joint team from various elements first directly examined the conditions of the affected residents' houses.

Then it is categorized as minor or moderate damage according to the applicable implementation instructions. The data is then raised in stages to the top level.

According to him, this process runs relatively smoothly without any significant obstacles. For affected residents who do not meet the criteria for minor or moderate damage, the government can help through other available assistance schemes.

The assistance funds are directly transferred to the recipient's bank account. The disbursement can be made up to 80 percent of the total funds received. The remaining 20 percent can only be disbursed after there is proof that the previous funds have been used for home repairs.

Previously, BNPB had also provided assistance to victims of severely damaged houses through the temporary housing development scheme (huntara) and the provision of the Housing Waiting Fund (DTH).

The construction of Huntara to date continues, targeted before entering Ramadan, no longer have people living in refugee camps because they have occupied the huntara. In Lhokseumawe there are 67 huntara ready to be built.

"For permanent housing (huntap) in Lhokseumawe, to this day it is still in the planning and preparation stage. Construction will begin immediately, both through centralized relocation and self-relocation," said Suharyanto.

On this occasion, one of the recipients of the damaged house stimulus assistance, Muhammad A Wahab, was very grateful for the assistance. Moreover, his house in Muara Dua District was damaged by the disaster, the soil from the hill flowed and hit his house until the wall cracked and several pillars collapsed, and had to be evacuated.

After being checked by various teams, his house was declared eligible to receive stimulus assistance.

"I am very grateful for this assistance. I will use the funds to renovate the back of the house which is adjacent to the hill," said Wahab.

For information, the Indonesian government continues to accelerate the post-disaster recovery process in the Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra regions.

The Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Acceleration Task Force (Satgas PRR) has completed the distribution of stimulus assistance for the construction of light and medium damaged houses simultaneously in 25 affected districts/cities in the three provinces.

In addition to restoring infrastructure, the government is trying to provide assistance as much as possible. For example, BNPB provides DTH, the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) provides inheritance compensation, and the huntara development is built by many institutions in various locations.