Banten maximises community kitchen services during 10-day search for missing journalists
Pandeglang, Banten — The Banten Provincial Government is maximising services through the provision of hundreds of food portions from the Social Services’ community kitchens, which have been operational for 10 days during the search for a group of journalists and the crew of the fast boat KM Arupadhatu 1, who lost contact in the Sunda Strait.
Lukman, Head of the Banten Provincial Social Services, speaking at the Joint SAR Main Post in Carita Beach, Pandeglang, on Thursday, stated that following direct instructions from the Governor of Banten, the provision of food from the community kitchens has been fully deployed since the first days of the SAR operation.
“The community kitchen service continues to be deployed to the maximum extent to support the operational movements of the Basarnas team, all joint personnel, and the families of the survivors,” he said.
Utilising modified trucks, the community kitchen produces more than 450 portions per day, exceeding the formal allocation of 350 portions per day intended for three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
According to Lukman, this increase in food portions was implemented to ensure that the logistical needs of SAR officers, journalists covering the event, victims’ families, and local residents active around the Main SAR Post are fully met.
The operation of the community kitchen is driven by approximately 30 trained volunteers, comprising personnel from the Banten Social Services, the Ministry of Social Affairs’ Disaster Preparedness Volunteers (Tagana), Disaster Preparedness Villages (KSB), and women from the Carita, Labuan, and Jiput districts.
Salted fish and shrimp paste sambal have become favourites in the social services’ kitchen, as they are considered delicious and a suitable accompaniment to any main dish cooked by the volunteers.
“If logistics run low, we replenish them from stocks in the social services warehouse or through assistance from other parties; for instance, today we received supplies from Bank Banten’s CSR programme,” he added.
He noted that the community kitchen services remain ready to support the efforts until the SAR operation concludes or is potentially extended.
The search area for the group of journalists and the crew of KM Arupadhatu 1, who lost contact in the Sunda Strait, has expanded on the 10th day (Thursday) to cover 8,509 nautical miles (NM) squared, compared to 3,439 NM squared on the ninth day.
The eight individuals being searched for include five journalists—M Bagus Khoirunnas (ANTARA News Agency), Ari Basuki (Merdeka.com), Yudhistiro (iNews), Firdaus (Anadolu), and Donal (freelance journalist)—alongside three others: Warta (captain), Surakman (crew member), and Heriyanto (guide).
The SAR operation involves a total of 523 joint SAR personnel.
According to the operational plan map from Basarnas, the search area for the group has expanded significantly to 8,509 NM squared, covering 10 sweeping sectors, compared to 3,439 NM squared across six sectors the previous day.
The largest search area today is Sector C, covering 3,380 NM squared, which is being swept by KRI Leuser and KRI Dewa Kembar, extending into the Indian Ocean waters west of Belimbing Island towards the south of Enggano Island, Bengkulu.