Tito Karnavian Visits NTT, Ensures Earthquake Response Is Accelerated
Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian directly inspected conditions in several areas of East Nusa Tenggara affected by the earthquake on Saturday evening. The inspection was carried out to accelerate post-disaster handling and recovery.
Tito was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno, Minister of Public Works, Head of the National Disaster Management Agency Suharyanto, Head of the National Search and Rescue Agency Mohammad Syafii, and several other relevant officials.
The inspection was a follow-up to President Prabowo Subianto’s directive that earthquake handling in NTT be carried out quickly and in an integrated manner. The central government has ensured that support is being mobilised to meet the needs of affected residents while accelerating regional recovery.
To realise this acceleration, Tito said the central government and regional governments continue to coordinate to ensure readiness of regional budget support in handling disaster-related needs. The Home Affairs Minister said the government has provided additional regional transfer funds to all regions, including provincial and district/city governments in NTT.
‘They just received it yesterday. On 5 August, there was additional regional transfer funding for all 546 regions, amounting to Rp18.9 trillion, and I know that in NTT there are also additions for the province as well as for districts and cities across NTT,’ Tito said in a written statement on Sunday.
To ensure the budget support is used appropriately, the Home Affairs Minister said he is involving relevant officials in the regional finance sector. The budget support is part of the government’s efforts to carry out the President’s directive in an integrated manner.
Earthquake handling is being carried out not only through regional fiscal support, but also through the deployment of cross-ministerial and institutional assistance, covering logistics, health, energy, and infrastructure recovery needs.
In line with this, the government is also accelerating the restoration of affected access routes so that public mobility and aid distribution can resume promptly. A number of damaged or severed roads and bridges are a priority for immediate handling.
‘Since this morning we have actually started clearing national roads of landslide material. As for the broken bridge, work will begin tomorrow morning,’ he said.
The acceleration measures are being taken to ensure affected communities can promptly receive the assistance and services they need. Coordination between the central government, regional governments, and ministries and agencies continues to be strengthened so that field handling proceeds quickly, in an integrated manner, and on target.