Prabowo explains delayed visit to Flores earthquake site

President Prabowo Subianto has said he deliberately delayed visiting the earthquake disaster site in Mbay, Nagekeo Regency, Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province, because he wanted to give other agencies the opportunity to serve affected residents.

“It was indeed deliberate. In the early days after the earthquake I did not come, because I wanted to give all agencies the chance to serve the people directly,” he said during a coordination meeting in Nagekeo on Wednesday.

The President made the remarks while on a working visit to Flores to inspect the situation of earthquake victims in the area.

“And there is a tendency for this to divert focus,” Prabowo said.

Prabowo explained that although he had not come from the outset, he had always been monitoring developments related to the Flores earthquake from Jakarta.

He expressed his gratitude to all parties who had worked hard and reacted quickly in handling the earthquake disaster in Flores.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded that as of Tuesday (25/8), the death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Nagekeo Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), on Saturday (15/8) at 05.58 WITA, had risen to 103 people.

By gender, 45 percent of the fatalities were male and 55 percent female. By age group, the victims comprised 45 percent elderly, 37 percent adults, 12 percent children and adolescents, and the remainder were toddlers and infants.

As for the injured, the BNPB recorded a total of 1,666 people.

East Manggarai Regency was the area with the highest number of injured, with 239 people suffering serious injuries and 404 people suffering minor injuries.

Data updates on victims continue to be carried out by the BNPB as additional reports come in from earthquake-affected areas.