Jamsostek allocates Rp 52b for disaster survivors

Jamsostek allocates Rp 52b for disaster survivors

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned insurance company PT Jamsostek has allocated as much
as Rp 52 billion to assist workers affected by the tsunami in
Aceh and North Sumatra.

Jamsostek president Achmad Djunaidi told The Jakarta Post here
on Tuesday the company had decided to compensate all workers
affected by the disaster, whether they were on or off duty at the
time of the tragedy.

"We will provide compensation and aid to all workers and their
families who were killed or injured in the tsunami. This is part
of the government's program to deal with the disaster and to help
the province recover from this tragedy," he said.

Djunaidi said on-duty workers killed in the disaster
would receive 4,000 percent of their gross monthly salary and
their pension fund, while off-duty workers who were killed would
receive less.

"Jamsostek will also provide scholarships for children of
affected workers up through high school," he said.

Mustofa Zainal, the head of Jamsostek's branch in Banda Aceh,
the capital of Aceh, said his office was still making inventory
of killed and injured workers, their families, and the companies
where they were employed at the time of the disaster.

All of the records on workers participating in Jamsostek were
safely recovered after the tsunami because they were kept on the
second floor of the building.

"Jamsostek's branch offices in Banda Aceh, Lhokseumawe and
Meulaboh resumed operations last week with an initial mission of
distributing Rp 2 billion in humanitarian aid and medicine to
disaster survivors. This week we will begin paying compensation
to relatives of workers killed or injured in the disaster," he
said.

Mustofa said his office had identified 200 of 659 workers at
cement factory PT Semen Andalas who were killed while working at
the time of the disaster and would pay full compensation to their
relatives.

Meanwhile, the Binawan Institute of Health Sciences (Stikes
Binawan) is seeking to cooperate with local and foreign
institutions to deploy about 200 students to help survivors of
the disaster.

"We cannot bar our students from going to Aceh but we don't
want them to cause trouble or to burden the Acehnese. We are
making contact with the Indonesian Red Cross, Ausaid, USAID, WHO
and several foreign institutions involved in humanitarian
operations in Aceh and North Sumatra," Stikes director Saleh
Alwaini said at a meeting with students preparing to leave for
Aceh.

Saleh said the Golkar Party and Save the Children had agreed
to cooperate with Stikes to deploy students to work as
volunteers.

The students, most of whom will leave to work in Australia in
April, will gain work experience during their deployment as
health workers and paramedics.

Saleh said his institution would not take any responsibility
for the safety of the students while in Aceh. "The students'
departure is being organized by the Stikes student executive
board with the approval of their parents."

Nurul Arifin, a Golkar member and volunteer who spent 10 days
helping disaster survivors in Lhokseumawe, told the students to
prepare themselves physically and mentally before going to Aceh.

"You should not go to Aceh and burden people already in a
difficult situation. The longer you stay there, the more problems
you might face," she said.