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.