Tito Aims to End Sumatra Refugees Living in Tents Before Eid al-Fitr

The government targets all disaster-affected refugees in the Sumatra region to no longer reside in tents before Eid al-Fitr.

Muhammad Tito Karnavian, head of the Task Force for Accelerating Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (PRR) for post-disaster Sumatra, said the refugees would be relocated to temporary housing (huntara) or through the Housing Waiting Fund (DTH).

This was conveyed by Tito, who is also the Minister of Home Affairs, when he chaired a Ministerial-level Coordination Meeting (Rakor) on the Accelerated Handling of Post-Disaster Refugees in the Sumatra region.

‘I intentionally invited attention to displacement issues. Particularly those still in tents, because we hope that before Eid al-Fitr there will be no one left in tents,’ Tito said at the meeting held in hybrid format from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Head Office, Jakarta, Thursday (5/3).

According to him, the presence of refugees still living in tents up to the third month after the disaster is a serious government concern. The reduction in the number of tent refugees is seen as an important indicator in the recovery process for the affected areas.

‘So if there are still in tents, this has entered the third month, three months after the end of November; it would not be appropriate for them to still be in tents,’ he said.

According to data from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the number of refugees in the three disaster-affected provinces has continued to fall.

In West Sumatra Province, it is noted that there are no longer any refugees in tents. Meanwhile, in Aceh, tent refugees remain spread across several areas such as Aceh Utara, Aceh Tamiang, Aceh Timur, Aceh Tengah, Bireuen, Nagan Raya, and Gayo Lues.

In North Sumatra Province, refugees remain in South Tapanuli Regency and Central Tapanuli.

‘The bottom line is that we see some still in tents, and we need to resolve this. We need to find solutions so that they are not in tents,’ he added.

Tito stressed the importance of speeding up the construction of huntara and the distribution of DTH so that people can soon occupy more decent housing.

He said coordination between ministries/agencies and local governments is the key to speeding up the resolution of housing issues for disaster-affected communities.

For the record, the meeting was attended online by several stakeholders, including Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo, BNPB Chief Suharyanto.

Then, Managing Director, Stakeholder Management and Communications at the Danantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara) Rohan Hafas, as well as Director General of Social Protection and Security at the Ministry of Social Affairs Agus Zainal Arifin.