Construction of permanent housing accelerated during disaster recovery transition period

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto stated that the construction of permanent housing (huntap) for communities affected by floods in three provinces in Sumatra, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, is being accelerated despite still being in the transition stage from emergency to recovery.

Suharyanto, during a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday, conveyed that all affected areas have now entered the transition period from emergency to recovery, targeted to end on 30 March 2026, before moving to the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase on 1 April 2026.

He explained that in disaster management practice, the construction of permanent housing is generally carried out in the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. However, acceleration is being implemented due to the urgent needs of the community who wish to occupy permanent residences as soon as possible.

“In disaster science, rehabilitation and reconstruction begins with the construction of permanent housing. But as mentioned by the Head of the Task Force (Tito Karnavian), the community is very eager to have permanent housing built immediately, so even though we are still in the transition phase and have not yet entered rehabilitation and reconstruction, we are already building permanent housing,” he said.

Suharyanto noted that central government budget support at this stage is still focused on stimulus aid for houses with minor and moderate damage. Nevertheless, construction for the category of severe damage is also beginning to be carried out.

“At BNPB itself, the budget provided by the Ministry of Finance is only up to the stimulus stage for minor and moderate damaged houses. But once again, for severe damage, we have already started building,” he stated.

This acceleration step is part of the government’s efforts to speed up post-disaster recovery, in line with the high needs of the community for decent housing.

It is known that the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri), who is also the Head of the Task Force for Accelerating Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) Post-Disaster in Sumatra, Tito Karnavian, has urged local governments to immediately accelerate the data collection of residents who will occupy permanent housing (huntap) for disaster victims.

“All regional heads conveyed the same thing, requesting that huntap be built quickly. But the data must be clear first,” Tito said in his statement in Jakarta on Tuesday (17/3).

Tito stated that accelerating data collection is important so that the central government can promptly begin constructing permanent houses for the affected communities.