PRR Task Force Chief Tito Prioritises Relocation of Tent Refugees to Huntara

Indonesia’s Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian has urged optimising the use of temporary housing (huntara) for refugees who remain in tents in the aftermath of disasters in several parts of Sumatra.

As Chair of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) Post-Disaster Sumatra, Tito believes refugee management can be improved by maximising the capacity of huntara already available. One approach is to relocate refugees from tents to other sites where huntara capacity is available.

‘Those in tents can be moved to other points where huntaras are in surplus. I see the trick as that,’ Tito said while leading a Ministerial-level Coordination Meeting (Rakor) on accelerating the handling of post-disaster refugees in Sumatra, held hybrid from the Central Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) in Jakarta, Thursday (5/3).

Tito emphasised that the government’s current main priority is refugees who are still living in tents. Meanwhile refugees occupying other facilities such as government buildings or meunasah (a traditional Acehnese building) can be addressed at a later stage.

‘If those in tents are indeed the hope of the people, from the heads of regional authorities, the tent-dwellers are the priority,’ he said.

He added that several regions still require additional huntara construction due to the large number of refugees. One area of particular concern is Aceh Tamiang, which is assessed as still needing additional huntara to house refugees.

‘Tamiang has quite a large number. And then the huntara is indeed lacking,’ he added.

In addition, Tito also called for clearer mapping of huntara development from various funding sources. This is important so that the government has accurate data on how many huntara have been built and how many remain targets for construction.

According to him, the data is needed as part of the government’s report to the President on progress of handling and post-disaster recovery in Sumatra.

This aligns with Presidential Decree (Keppres) No. 1 of 2026 on the Task Force for Accelerating Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Post-Disaster Natural Disasters in Aceh Province, North Sumatra Province, and West Sumatra Province.

‘So we also know how many have been built by BNPB, how many by Danantara, and how many by the Ministry of Public Works (PU). Later, when we report to the President, every two months as per Keppres we report to the President,’ he concluded.