Home Affairs Minister Visits NTT to Accelerate Post-Earthquake Response
Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian inspected the condition of East Nusa Tenggara, which was struck by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on Saturday evening (15/8). He confirmed that various forms of support are being deployed to meet the needs of affected communities and to accelerate the region’s recovery.
The minister said the central government and regional administrations continue to coordinate to ensure the readiness of regional budget support in handling disaster-related needs. Tito made the remarks after landing at Komodo International Airport in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, NTT.
In this regard, the government has provided additional regional transfer funds to all regions, including the provincial government and regency and city administrations in NTT.
“They just received it. On 5 August, there was an additional regional transfer fund for all 546 regions, amounting to Rp18.9 trillion, and I know that NTT also received additional funds for the province as well as for regencies and cities across NTT,” Tito told journalists.
To ensure the budget is used appropriately, Tito confirmed that relevant officials in regional finance are being involved.
Furthermore, earthquake response is not only being carried out through regional fiscal support but also through the deployment of cross-ministerial and agency assistance, covering logistics, health, energy, and infrastructure restoration needs.
At the same time, the government is also accelerating the restoration of affected access routes to facilitate public mobility and aid distribution. A number of damaged or severed roads and bridges are the focus of the response.
“Since this morning, we have actually begun clearing national roads of landslide material. As for the broken bridge, work will begin tomorrow morning,” Tito said.
The acceleration measures are being taken to ensure affected communities can promptly receive the assistance and services they need. Coordination between the central government, regional administrations, and ministries and agencies will continue to be strengthened so that field operations proceed quickly, in an integrated manner, and on target.
During the inspection, Tito was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno, the Minister of Public Works, Head of the National Disaster Management Agency Suharyanto, and Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency Mohammad Syafii.