Minister of Home Affairs asks local governments to accelerate the registration of damaged houses after disasters

Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian directly handed over assistance to disaster-affected people in Geudumbak Village, Langkahan District, North Aceh Regency. (ANTARA/HO-Kemendagri)

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Muhammad Tito Karnavian again encouraged local governments (Pemda) in the Sumatra region and various parties concerned to accelerate the data collection of damaged houses after the disaster.

Tito emphasized that rapid and accurate data collection is the key to accelerating the distribution of central government assistance to affected communities.

"The key is data. This data, which is (damaged) light, which is damaged, which is heavy. All districts/cities," said Tito as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, January 6.

This was conveyed by Tito when leading a Coordination Meeting for Data Collection on Damage to Houses, Public Facilities, and the Latest Number of Refugees after the Disaster in the Sumatra region in Jakarta.

The Minister of Home Affairs said President Prabowo Subianto gave great attention to accelerating post-disaster recovery. This includes for people whose houses are slightly and moderately damaged so that they can immediately receive assistance and be able to return to their activities.

He explained that the government had prepared a scheme to provide assistance for houses that were slightly and moderately damaged. The assistance was in the form of a compensation of Rp. 15 million for slight damage and Rp. 30 million for moderate damage.

In addition, the government has also prepared permanent housing (huntap) for people whose houses are severely damaged or lost. While waiting for the construction of huntap, people can stay in temporary housing (huntara) and receive the Housing Waiting Fund (DTH).

The Minister of Home Affairs emphasized that the distribution of assistance could not be carried out without clear and accountable data. Therefore, he asked all local governments to immediately determine the damage data of houses based on the categories of minor, moderate, and severe damage through the decisions of regional heads.

The data was then submitted to the governor and forwarded to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Ministry of Social Affairs for follow-up.

"The desire of all of us, who are lightly damaged and moderately damaged, is that as soon as possible they will be given assistance and financing so that they can start working, start getting things in order," he said.

To accelerate data collection, the Minister of Home Affairs encourages the active role of the village apparatus. According to him, the head of the village or keuchik is the party who knows the conditions of his citizens in detail.

Thus, data collection can be based on name and address without having to wait for the completeness of population administration.

"After that it was handed over to the camat, the camat to the regent. The regent will review everything, and after that he will make a kind of SK, the list of victims," said Tito.

In addition, the Minister of Home Affairs also asked for the support of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) to help quickly collect data through the network owned by the district and city levels.

The Minister of Home Affairs reminded that the delay in data collection would have an impact on the slow disbursement of assistance and could potentially extend the period of displacement, which could cause social and health problems.

Tito also highlighted that there were still a number of regions that had not submitted damage data proposals. The Minister of Home Affairs reminded the local government to ensure that all data were submitted so that there would be no problems later.

This is especially to avoid there being affected people who do not receive assistance because they are not proposed by the region.