JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) emphasized that the determination of the emergency response status after the earthquake in North Maluku and North Sulawesi was handed over to the local government in accordance with the results of the assessment in each affected area.
BNPB Head Suharyanto said that local governments have the authority to determine the status of emergency response based on conditions and handling capabilities at the local level.
As stipulated by BNPB, if a region is deemed unable to handle the impact of a disaster independently, the regional head, both the regent and the mayor, can immediately establish an emergency response status.
"In this case, if more than two districts or cities establish an emergency status, then the provincial government can also establish an emergency status at the provincial level," said Suharyanto as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, April 2.
However, he emphasized that the central government would still intervene in disaster management, regardless of whether or not the status of emergency response was determined by the local government.
This step, according to him, is a direct order from President Prabowo Subianto who directs his ranks, including BNPB, to place the safety of the community as the main priority in handling disasters.
"Initial coordination has been carried out with a number of regional heads in the affected areas, including regents, mayors, and governors, to accelerate the steps taken so far. The impact tends to be smaller if seen from the scale of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake," he said.
When asked about the development of data in island areas such as Halmahera, Jailolo, Tobelo, and Tidore Islands, Suharyanto said the data collection process is still ongoing and will be updated periodically.
"Until now, there have been no additional reports of casualties, but because this incident is still within a few hours since this morning, the data is expected to continue to grow," he said, while ensuring that the BNPB team was deployed today to the affected locations in North Maluku and North Sulawesi to ensure the acceleration of data collection and support the local government in handling emergencies both in terms of logistics and budget.
Meanwhile, the BNPB Operations Control Center received reports as of Thursday afternoon that there were one death in Manado City, one minor injury, and as many as 16 families affected in Minahasa Regency.
For damage to five government offices, one hotel, one public facility, namely the KONI building in Manado City. Then in Minahasa Regency, two hospitals were severely damaged, more than 10 houses were affected, one government office was damaged, and one public facility. Then in Ternate City, one church building and two houses were damaged.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
