MoSA Fulfills Clean Water and Food Needs for South Pesisir Flood – Landslide Victims

SOUTH PESISIR (March 21st, 2024) – The floods and landslides that hit South Pesisir on Thursday (7/3) had indeed ended, but that did not mean the difficulties felt by flood and landslide victims had also ended. After the disaster, the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), local government, residents and various parties worked together to ensure that life returned to normal. Along the way, there are various obstacles faced by affected residents, one of which is related to meeting their needs for clean water.

Apart from damaging buildings and furniture, the mud carried by floods and landslides makes it difficult for residents to get clean water. The water sources that existed are now filled with mud mixed with materials, stones, sand and wood, making them unable and unhealthy to be consumed. Apart from that, access to clean water has been cut off in several places.

Knowing the difficulty of residents accessing clean water, Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini gave directions to her staff to provide clean water assistance to affected residents. “Later, there will be officers to prepare clean water. We have prepared this," said the Minister when inspecting the condition of residents affected by floods and landslides in South Pesisir, last Thursday (14/3).

The Minister kept her promise. In several places, officers from the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) immediately installed clean water installations. "In accordance with the direction of the Minister of Social Affairs, we have installed four water purifiers in Batang Kapas District and Sutra District. We installed them there as that area is the area with the most severe impact. Meanwhile, there has been no realization of repairs to the water reservoir from PDAM," said Taufik Akbar, a MoSA’s Task-Force tasked with installing water treatment at that location.

Meanwhile, in other locations, Disaster Response Volunteer (Tagana) personnels also distributed 20,000 liters of clean water every day. With a water tank with a capacity of 5,000 liters, they went around the village to distribute water to affected residents. Residents who really needed clean water flocked to the water source carrying gallons, buckets, jerry cans and even drums to collect the water so that it could be used for their daily needs.

A resident of Nyalo River Village, Rumi, admitted that he was very happy with the clean water assistance from MoSA. Previously, he had to walk 3 kilometers to get clean water since the water source he usually used was cut off. Meanwhile, repairs take a long time. Rumi and other residents of Nyalo River Village have had difficulty getting water for 10 days.

"We are very happy to be very helpful because it's a long distance of 3 kilometers to get water. Now, there is (water aid) here which we can take once every 2 days, in the morning and evening, for cleaning, washing, and cooking," said him.

Not only clean water, MoSA also meets the food needs of affected residents. Even though the flood has receded, Tagana remains committed to continuing to help meet the nutritional needs of flood-affected residents in South Pesisir Regency.

They distributed 2,000 rice packets for breaking the fast and sahur, so that residents could carry out their activities as usual. All ready-to-eat food is produced by Tagana, in synergy with PKH Companions, District Social Welfare Workers (TKSK), and residents who work together to prepare food in MoSA’s Public Kitchen.

Public Relations Bureau
Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs