Declaration of earthquake emergency status in North Maluku-North Sulawesi handed over to local governments

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has emphasised that the declaration of emergency response status in the aftermath of the earthquake in North Maluku and North Sulawesi is left to local governments in accordance with assessments in the respective affected regions.

BNPB Head Suharyanto, during a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday, stated that local governments have the authority to determine the emergency response status based on conditions and local handling capabilities.

As per BNPB regulations, if a region is deemed unable to manage the disaster impacts independently, the regional head, whether regent or mayor, may immediately declare an emergency response status.

Nevertheless, he stressed that the central government will still intervene in disaster management, regardless of whether local governments declare an emergency response status.

This approach, according to him, is a direct instruction from President Prabowo Subianto, directing his apparatus including BNPB to prioritise public safety in disaster handling.

“Initial coordination has been conducted with several regional heads in the affected areas, including regents, mayors, and governors, to accelerate handling steps; so far, the impacts caused tend to be smaller when viewed against the scale of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake,” he said.

“Until now, there have been no additional reports of fatalities, but since this incident is still within hours from this morning, data is expected to continue developing,” he said, while assuring that BNPB teams were deployed today to the affected locations in North Maluku and North Sulawesi to ensure accelerated data collection and support local governments in emergency handling, both in terms of logistics and budget.

Meanwhile, the BNPB Central Operations Control Directorate has received reports that as of Thursday afternoon, there is one fatality in Manado City, one minor injury, and 16 affected families in Minahasa Regency.

For damages, there are five government office units, one hotel, and one public facility, namely the KONI building in Manado City. Then in Minahasa Regency, two hospitals heavily damaged, more than 10 houses affected, one government office damaged, and one public facility. In Ternate City, one church building and two house units damaged.