REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BIMA - The Social Affairs Ministry has provided Rp6.9 billion as social assistance (Bansos) to the victims of flash floods in Bima City, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). "Until today, we have channeled Rp1.3 billion in life insurance (jadup)," Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said on the sidelines of her visit to monitor the disbursement of the assistance at the refugee camp in Bima, Tuesday.
Apart from the jadup assistance for 1,335 flood-hit families, the social assistance also includes Rp5.5 billion in the form of logistics assistance and another Rp85 million as social benefit assistance.
The flash floods which hit Bima on December 21 and 23, 2016, killed four people and injured 10 others. The floods washed away 121 houses and damaged dozens of others.
Parawansa has confirmed that the four people died after flash floods hit Bima on December 21 and 23, 2016. "During the Bima flood emergency response period, four people died," she stated.
The minister visited the Bima Municipality and the Bima District to ensure all victims had received life insurance and other forms of social assistance. The minister also visited Ardi Kartiarso's family to deliver the social assistance.
Kartiarso died after a flash flood inundated his house. The 52-year-old is survived by his wife and five children.
Bima Mayor M Qurais Abidin confirmed the social assistance had been distributed to all victims of the flash floods in Bima. "The local government is focusing on clearing up the debris left behind by the floods that hit the region," he mentioned.
The floods have inundated 33 sub-districts, home to a total of 105,000 people, Harry Hikmat, the Social Affairs Ministry's director general for security and social protection, stated. The social ministry has distributed logistics, social assistance, and other items worth Rp6.9 billion to the victims, he remarked.
The flash floods had also washed away 121 houses and damaged dozens of other houses, forcing 1,300 people to flee their homes. The floods, triggered by the overflowing of two local rivers following heavy rains, prompted the closure of offices and schools in the city.
Earlier, the flood emergency response period in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, was extended from January 6 to 19, Data Information Center and Public Relations of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency's Chief Sutopo Purwo Nugroho declared. "Two weeks after the flash floods in Bima on December 21 and 23, the situation has not fully normalised," Nugroho remarked, in a written statement received here.
Following the flash floods, some problems are still being encountered in the areas of education, garbage handling, health, and refugee relief, which must be resolved, and thus, it was decided to extend the emergency response period by 14 days, he explained.
In the meantime, Prijono, head of the Bank Indonesia (BI) Office in West Nusa Tenggara, stated in Mataram, Wednesday, that BI had, so far, distributed 693 aid packages to the victims of the flash floods in Bima.
He said the aid packages were from the Association of BI's Employees, BI's central office, and the bank's representative offices. "The total value of assistance reached Rp140 million. These funds were used to purchase aid packages for the victims, such as basic necessities, clothing, medicines, and essential items for infants," he revealed.
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