Minister of Home Affairs: 29 Desa Hilang Needs Relocation and Administrative Solutions

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian/ANTARA/Fianda Sjofjan Rassat)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) and Chairman of the Task Force (Kasatgas) for the Acceleration of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) after the disaster, Sumatra Tito Karnavian, said that there were 29 villages that were lost due to hydrometeorological disasters in Aceh and North Sumatra.

"Then the missing, this also needs to be resolved. So there are 29 villages that are missing because they were carried away by landslides or were affected by floods," said Tito, Wednesday, February 18.

Tito said the problem of missing villages not only concerned the physical relocation of residents, but also the administrative aspects of village government that must be immediately completed so that public services continue to run.

"This also needs to be resolved by relocation and also the administration of the village government," he said.

He detailed that the most lost villages were in Aceh, namely 21 villages spread across Aceh Tamiang, Nagan Raya, Central Aceh, and Gayo Lues. Meanwhile, in North Sumatra there are eight villages that are lost, especially in the South Tapanuli and Central Tapanuli regions.

Tito said that currently there is an option for the village to be rebuilt or completely removed from the government's administrative system.

During the meeting, the Minister of Home Affairs also explained the progress of post-Sumatra recovery. In West Sumatra, out of 19 existing regencies/cities, 16 of them were affected.

Of that number, 13 regencies/cities or 81 percent have been declared normal, one area is close to normal, namely Tanah Datar, and two areas still require special attention, namely Agam Regency and Padang Pariaman.

Meanwhile, in North Sumatra, out of 33 regencies/cities, as many as 18 areas were affected by disasters. Of these, 15 regencies/cities or 83 percent have been functionally normal, one area is close to normal, namely South Tapanuli, and two areas that still require special attention, namely Central Tapanuli and North Tapanuli.

As for Aceh, out of the 23 existing regencies/cities, 18 areas were affected. A total of 10 regencies/cities or 56 percent have been declared normal, one area is close to normal, namely Bener Meriah, and seven regencies are still in the special attention category.

He added that the assessment of the normal status was based on indicators of recovery of government services, health, education, road access, economy, electricity, clean water, to the normalization of rivers.