Mount Semeru Eruption, Bad News From Sandiaga Uno: 12 Natural Tourism Villages Experiencing Infrastructure Damage

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno said that as a result of the eruption of Mount Semeru last Saturday, at least 12 tourist villages were affected. He said, several villages suffered infrastructure damage.

For example, Gunung Wayang Village. Sandiaga said, this village suffered damage to the paragliding take-off and landing runways and dusty road access. The tourist village has been relying on paragliding as an attraction.

Then, continued Sandiaga, damage was also experienced by the Pronojiwo Tourism Village, where the connecting bridge with Lumajang was cut off. Meanwhile roads and many homestays are covered in light dust.

Then, a similar condition was experienced by Tirtosari View Village, which experienced road access damage and was covered in volcanic ash. The bamboo forest tourism village was also affected considering that their bamboo forest area was covered in volcanic ash.

Even so, Sandi said there was no significant damage there. Meanwhile, fatalities were found in the tourist village of Sumbermujur, Penanggal Tourism Village, Sumber Wuluh Tourism Village, Supit Urang Tourism Village and Oro Oro Ombo Tourism Village. All of them are in Candipuro sub-district.

The former deputy governor of DKI Jakarta said that one tourist village, Ranu Pani, which is one of the top 50 Indonesian Tourism Village Award (ADWI), was in a safe condition and only covered in a thin layer of dust.

Meanwhile, said Sandiaga, Senduro Village, and Siti Sundari Village were only covered in thin volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Semeru.

"Even if there is an impact, we hope that it will recover soon. Moreover, there are two or three superior destinations there that are also affected, namely Bromo Tengger Semeru, Malang Raya will definitely be affected and Lumanjang itself. Moreover, ecotourism-based tourism," he explained.

On that occasion, Sandiaga expressed his concern over the eruption of Mount Semeru. Sandiaga invited the community to pray and lend a hand for recovery, especially in the tourism sector and the creative economy that was affected.

"I would like to express my deep concern over the catastrophic eruption of Mount Semeru that occurred last Saturday and we will continue to monitor it on Sunday and today. I invite all of us to pray together for our brothers and sisters to always be in the protection of the almighty God. And let's join hands to help accelerate the recovery, especially the tourism sector and the creative economy affected by Mount Semeru," he said.