87 Langkat Tornado Victims Receives Ministry of Social Affairs Assistance

LANGKAT (1st  October 2020) - The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) provided assistance in the form of House Building Materials (BBR) worth Rp. 466 million to 87 families of tornado victims in Hinai District, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra Province, Thursday (1/10).

Representing the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara, Director of Social Protection for Natural Disaster Victims (PSKBA), M. Safii Nasution, explained that the provision of assistance to the 87 families had gone through the verification and validation stages beforehand so as not to be misdirected.

"Of the 102 proposed, after collecting data, verifying and validating those whose houses were heavily damaged by the hurricane, we found 87 people," said Safii Nasution.

Safii said the 87 people were spread over seven villages, namely Tanjung Mulia Village, Suka Damai Timur, Muka Paya, Suka Damai, Suka Jadi, Paya Rengas, and Batu Melenggang," added Safii.

In terms of the aid distribution mechanism, the Ministry of Social Affairs has collaborated with Bank Mandiri to be able to distribute non-cash assistance to each beneficiary who has joined the beneficiary group.

"The aid distribution system is carried out in a non-cash manner so that it is directly sent to the account and received by the family concerned," added Safii.

The tornado that hit Hinai District at the end of last June resulted in at least 240 houses being lightly, moderately, and severely damaged, while a number of residents were also reported to have suffered injuries.

As a result of the damage to houses with details of 97 light damage and 41 moderate damage, the community then fled to family homes.

The Deputy Regent of Langkat, Syah Affandi, appreciated the quick response taken by the Ministry of Social Affairs. "Validation is very fast so today it can be directly given to the victim," Affandi explained.

Affandi added that Langkat Regency is an area that is prone to natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods. For this reason, he asked the Ministry of Social Affairs to also pay more attention to his area.

"Our area is a disaster-prone area. So, I ask the Ministry of Social Affairs to pay more attention," he added.

Establishment of 2 KSB

Responding to the request of the Langkat Regency Government, the Ministry of Social Affairs through the Director of PSKBA, M. Safii Nasution, is committed to establishing two Disaster Preparedness Villages (KSB) in the area.

Safii explained that the establishment of the KSB was intended to provide education and community involvement on the dangers of natural disasters.

"In dealing with disasters, the community must be involved, educated, how to save themselves in the event of a disaster," said Safii.

Currently, the Ministry of Social Affairs has established 773 KSBs throughout Indonesia.

In addition, the Ministry of Social Affairs also has 36 thousand personnel of Disaster Preparedness Cadets (Tagana), who are tasked with assisting the community in dealing with disasters.

"Indonesia is a disaster-prone country. We can no longer say that this is a disaster because we live in a disaster-prone area," said Safii.

Like it or not, he continued, we are in a disaster-prone area. For this reason, said Safii, the community must appear at the forefront in minimizing disasters, and the community is also the first to respond to disasters.

According to him, no area in Indonesia is safe from disasters, "so that anticipatory steps are needed through appropriate disaster mitigation programs to minimize the occurrence of natural disasters," he concluded