BNPB: 1,378 schools in Flores, NTT affected by earthquake

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has recorded that a total of 1,378 schools on Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), suffered damage from the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that shook the region a week ago.

Acting Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre, Berton SP Panjaitan, said in a press conference in Jakarta on Friday that the joint field team has completed data collection on 92 percent of the total number of damaged schools.

“Of that number of schools, overall data collection progress has reached 92 percent. Physical facility damage includes 5,521 damaged classroom units and 502 school facility buildings that suffered severe damage,” he said.

Although he did not specify which education levels the damaged schools belong to, he assured that the government is working to provide emergency facilities so that 177,678 affected students and 21,166 teachers and education staff can continue teaching and learning activities.

BNPB reported that for safety reasons, 923 schools have imposed temporary closures, while 35 schools are using emergency spaces for the learning process.

In addition, 171 schools have implemented distance learning, and only 30 schools are reported to still be able to carry out normal teaching and learning activities.

For the remaining 219 schools, no official information has yet been received from the field assessment team.

Berton stated that BNPB, together with relevant ministries and agencies and local governments, will make maximum efforts to accelerate the final data collection process and prepare recovery measures for educational facilities to ensure the continuity of student learning.