Call Victims Of Earthquakes Cianjur Still Needs National Handling, Secretary General Of PMI: Cleaning Houses Constrained By Heavy Equipment

The building was damaged by the Cianjur earthquake on Monday, November 21. (Diah-VOI)

JABAR - Secretary of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Sudirman Said said that the victims of the earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 Cianjur still needed national handling. The obstacles faced are related to energy and heavy equipment to the range field.

"The handling of the Cianjur earthquake must be carried out together nationally starting from the central, provincial and district governments as well as humanitarian organizations because the recovery is much hampered, such as cleaning up the rubble of houses, which are still constrained by energy and heavy equipment so that residents can return home," he said in Cianjur Monday, December 26, confiscated by Antara.

One month after the Cianjur earthquake, tens of thousands of houses were damaged. Many affected residents live in refugee posts and emergency tents that are built independently. They also, he continued, still hope to occupy emergency housing while waiting for development assistance from the government.

"The situation due to the earthquake is not light, plus the affected locations are scattered so that there are many ruins of buildings, so the availability of limited emergency residential areas. This requires national attention to be given because the level of damage is quite severe and the progress of slow recovery due to various obstacles," he said.

His party assessed that the slow handling of collapsed buildings would have an impact on the length of time earthquake victims living in refugee posts, to help speed up the cleaning process and need national government intervention starting from the TNI/Polri, ministries and related agencies.

"A safe and strong emergency residential area must be prioritized in the recovery period until the occupancy is still completed. We invite all parties to be able to build these residences, so that all refugees can live in better places, not in tents for a while," he said.