1,600 North Tapanuli residents receive living allowance aid

Jakarta (ANTARA) - As many as 1,600 residents affected by the flood disaster in North Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra, have received living allowance assistance from the government through the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf, in a statement in Jakarta on Friday, said the living allowance assistance is being distributed in cooperation with PT Pos Indonesia and local governments to help meet the basic needs of the community during the recovery period following the disaster.

“Distributing living allowance assistance in North Tapanuli, each person receives Rp450 thousand per month for three months,” he said.

He explained that the total value of the assistance distributed in the region amounts to around Rp2.1 billion, given to 1,600 people or 434 beneficiary families (KPM).

The distribution was carried out symbolically to some beneficiaries at the Martua Hall of the North Tapanuli Regent’s Office in Tarutung, while other recipients could withdraw the assistance through post offices in 11 areas respectively.

According to Saifullah, the designation of recipients was based on data that had undergone layered verification by the central and local government to ensure aid goes to the right targets.

“The data is processed from the bottom up: first BNPB provides the data, then the district or city head determines it, signed by the police chief and the district attorney, then verified by the Home Affairs Ministry before becoming final data,” he said.

In addition to living allowance, the Ministry of Social Affairs is also accelerating post-disaster recovery in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra through other adaptive social assistance disbursements such as the Housing Isian Bantuan (BIH) and Socio-Economic Stimulation Aid (BSSE), which have started to be disbursed since early March.