Public Kitchen Provides Sahur Meals for Disaster Survivors in South Tapanuli
Tapsel, North Sumatra (ANTARA) — A public kitchen at the evacuation site in Batu Hula Village, South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra, is providing sahur (pre-dawn) meals for 220 families sheltering at the location.
Public kitchen post supervisor Resdi Nasution said on Thursday that the kitchen began cooking from 03:00 local time, specifically for the evacuees.
On the first day of sahur, the public kitchen provided rice, instant noodles as a side dish, and warm water for the flash flood survivors.
“At the moment we are providing rice and instant noodles, because that is all we have,” he said.
According to him, the flash flood survivors had on average already obtained side dishes for sahur in the form of beef that had been donated and cooked the previous day, meaning the only side dish provided this time was instant noodles.
Resdi stated that the public kitchen was no longer as busy as it had been on the first day and at the onset of the flash flood disaster, as most survivors had already acquired their own rice cookers at their respective evacuation points.
“We continue to provide rice and side dishes, because there are still those who depend on the public kitchen,” he said.
He added that the public kitchen had been tasked with providing food for 220 families sheltering at three locations, whether in blue tents, white tents, or in a resident’s workshop.
Previously, a number of flash flood survivors in South Tapanuli, North Sumatra, had their first sahur of the holy month of Ramadan 1447 Hijriah in emergency tents alongside their relatives.
ANTARA reporters observed in the early hours of Thursday that a number of flash flood survivors were seen arriving at the public kitchen at the Disaster Post in Batu Hula Village, Batang Toru District, South Tapanuli.
They brought food containers to collect rice and side dishes provided by the public kitchen at the evacuation site.
In addition to making use of the public kitchen, flash flood survivors from Huta Godang and Garoga villages in Batang Toru District were also cooking in their own tents.