Local govts ordered to create relief funds
Local govts ordered to create relief funds
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto ordered all provincial,
regency and mayoralty administrations yesterday to set up
disaster relief funds in their budgets.
The special funds would speed up efforts to help victims of
natural disasters, he said.
Soeharto said preventive measures and good anticipation would
help reduce the number of victims and their suffering.
"All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that this
relief aid reaches disaster victims to help them rebuild their
lives," Soeharto said at the State Palace while opening a meeting
of the National Task Force for Natural Disaster Relief.
Minister of Social Services Endang Kusuma Inten Suweno,
Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. and several governors
attended the opening ceremony.
The government has set aside about Rp 72 billion in its
1997/1998 state budget for a natural disaster relief fund.
Indonesia has 27 provinces, 243 regencies and 77 mayoralties.
Shortages of funding, equipment and human resources have
forced local administrations to depend greatly on central
government assistance when dealing with disasters.
Local administrators often seek to categorize a local disaster
as a national disaster to gain more assistance from Jakarta.
But the government finds it difficult to handle disasters in
remote areas.
In February last year, a major earthquake claimed more than
100 lives in Biak Numfor in Irian Jaya when the tidal waves it
caused swept through many coastal villages.
At least 32,000 elementary school students lost their
belongings and more than 350 schools were damaged.
Relief authorities there have complained about the late
arrival of aid.
The government said transportation problems and the distance
to Biak Numfor had slowed the relief operation.
The last big natural disaster was an earthquake in Kerinci,
Jambi, last October which killed at least 70 people.
"We must try to speed up operations to help victims of the
disaster," Soeharto said. (06)