Along the North Coast, the Minister of Social Affairs Ensures Flood Victims are Handled Properly

PEKALONGAN (February 26th 2020) - Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara along the North Coast (Pantura) of Java Island to ensure that flood-affected areas are handled properly. The Minister of Social Affairs started the journey from Pekalongan City, Pekalongan Regency, Pemalang Regency and ended in Karawang Regency.

"Here there are about 1,700 refugees, I think this is a quite large number. Therefore, I want to come here to see how the refugees are handled," said the Minister of Social Affairs while visiting the refugee camps at Hoegeng Stadium, Pekalongan City, Wednesday (26/2 ).

The flood-submerged areas of the Pantura Jawa, as referred to by the Minister of Social Affairs, include Pekalongan City, Pekalongan Regency, and Pemalang Regency in Central Java Province, as well as Karawang Regency in West Java Province.

"We handle it all, as long as there are refugees, the Ministry of Social Affairs will definitely handle it. From here, we plan to also go to Pekalongan Regency, continue to Pemalang, continue to Karawang, and finally, Karawang is also quite badly flooded there," explained the Minister of Social Affairs.

Arriving at the first location, Hoegeng Stadium, Pekalongan City, the Minister of Social Affairs immediately showed his concern for the children affected by the flood by approaching the Psychosocial Support Service (LDP) post.

In front of the children, the Minister of Social Affairs invited them to sing, even danced with the LDP team wearing cosplay costumes. This inevitably succeeded in creating boisterous laughter and applause for the children in the evacuation.

"Earlier we also saw how the affected children were given LDP so that they were not traumatized, did not feel anxious, we still pay attention because they are children who may not really understand why they have to be here," said Minister of Social Affairs.

After entertaining the children, the Minister of Social Affairs visited the public kitchen in the field and the evacuation post. The Minister of Social Affairs motivates and encourages them to remain enthusiastic while staying for a while in the evacuation.

The same thing was also done by the Minister of Social Affairs at the Dupantex Textile Factory yard, Pekalongan Regency which was the location for his next visit. In his statement, the Minister of Social Affairs admitted that he was present on behalf of the central government to take responsibility for bearing the burdens incurred after the flood disaster.

"I am here to see another place that has been used as a refugee location due to flood-hit settlements. We, from the Ministry of Social Affairs, represent the central government, in essence, we are responsible for bearing the burden of our brothers, victims of the floods in Pekalongan," said Minister of Social Affairs.

During his visit, the Minister of Social Affairs was accompanied by the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Harry Hikmat, Regent of Pekalongan, Asip Kholbihi and Deputy Regent of Pekalongan, Arini Harimurti, and Dandim 07/10 Pekalongan, Lieutenant Colonel Arfan Johan Wihananto.

Meanwhile, the Regent of Pekalongan, Asip Kholbihi said that the extreme rain a few days ago soaked almost all settlements in the Pekalongan area and its surroundings. He said this happened because the river flow was dirty, clogged and did not lead directly to the sea.

"We already know the anatomy of why flooding occurs in almost all settlements, just now we were ordered by the Governor to normalize the channel, we have done it, we clean the rivers to smooth the flow," he explained.

The next point of visit is a residential area that is still inundated by knee-high water for adults in Kaliprau Village, Ulujami District, Pemalang Regency.

The Minister of Social Affairs and his entourage went to the location of the flood, interacted with the residents, as well as handed over cleaning tools directly.

Furthermore, the Minister of Social Affairs moved to Karawang Regency. Accompanied by the Regent of Karawang, Cellica Nurrachadiana, the Minister of Social Affairs visited Karangligar Village, Telukjambe Timur District which is still inundated. By using an inflatable boat, the Minister of Social Affairs walked the village streets to see the condition of the residents' settlements.

Assistance from the Ministry of Social Affairs

Ministry of Social Affairs Ari, as he is usually called, said that his party from the Ministry of Social Affairs brought additional assistance totaling IDR 1.5 Billion more.

The assistance provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs consists of 600 packages of fast food A, B, C, D, 300 packages of children's food, 500 packages of side dishes, 4,800 packs of instant noodles, 35 sheets of rolled tents, 16 units of velbeds, 25 mattresses, 2 pieces family multipurpose tents, 50 packages of family kits, 50 packages of kids ware, 50 packages of foodware, 50 packages of family kitchen utensils, 100 blankets and 100 packages of clothing.

These aids were provided to the Pantura areas of Java, each City and District of Pekalongan, Pemalang Regency, and Karawang Regency.

The allocation of aid distributed to Pekalongan City consists of regular rice amounting to IDR 700,910,000, 1000 cleaning equipment packages of IDR 198,000,000, Logistics phase 1 of IDR 30,235,000 and Logistics phase 2 of IDR 296,623,294.

The aid allocation for Pekalongan Regency consists of Phase 1 Logistics amounting to IDR 28,313,760, Logistics phase 2 of IDR 296,623,294 and regular rice as much as IDR 9,816,340.

Meanwhile, the aid allocation for Pemalang Regency consists of Phase 1 Logistics amounting to IDR 23,867,300 and Logistics phase 2 worth IDR 296,623,294.

Finally, the total allocation of aid distributed to Karawang Regency is IDR 290,122,784 with details of Logistics Phase 1 of IDR 38,184,000 and Logistics phase 2 of IDR 251,938,784.

In addition, there was also assistance from BNI for flood victims in the form of blankets, mattresses and carpets. "Earlier there were also friends from BNI who distributed their assistance, thanks to BNI for participating in the handling the flood disaster. Hopefully it will be useful for all affected victims," ​​said the Minister of Social Affairs.

The Minister of Social Affairs expressed his support for the efforts of the local government in meeting the basic needs by refugees.

"So far, I think the handling has been good enough, but of course we will continue to coordinate with local governments, in principle we are ready to support whatever we can send, we support," he concluded.