Quick Response of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Accompanying Children Affected by Landslides Semarang

SEMARANG (7 February 2021) - The Ministry of Social Affairs, through the Antasena Magelang Children's Center, responded quickly to the landslide that occurred in Semarang City. The landslide that occurred on Saturday morning was caused by rain that had fallen since Friday afternoon and increased in intensity from Friday night to Saturday early morning. The results of monitoring in the field occurred landslides at several points, one of which was in Lempongsari Village, Gajah Mungkur District, Semarang City. The worst landslide impact occurred in RW 06, to be precise at RT 01, RT 03, and RT 05 where here landslides occurred twice, namely at 5 and 8 in the morning.

There were no casualties in this incident but there were 7 houses that were affected by landslides, 4 of them were hit by landslide material that caused damage to the back of the house and 3 other houses lost their access roads. So far there are still 3 more motorbikes buried by landslide material that have not been evacuated.

"Our arrival is to coordinate and assess the needs of the refugees, as well as to conduct trauma healing or psychosocial assistance services, especially for children affected by landslides," said Faisal, the Head of the Antasena Magelang Children's Center.

Information from the head of RW 06 Lempongsari Urban Village, Feri, that currently, there are 34 refugees from 3 RTs (Neighborhood Associations) affected by landslides, 5 of which are children, 24 adults, 5 elderly and there are no refugees with disabilities.

"For the needs of the refugees to eat, we did not set up a public kitchen, only cook in one of the residents' houses and we limit the cooking to only 3 people, this is to prevent crowds and transmission of Covid-19, which is quite high in our neighborhood," said Hesti, the Chairman of the PKK RW 06 Lempongsari Village. "For food, especially dry food, for now, it is still very sufficient. To avoid logistical buildup, we will only coordinate with post officers and logistics officers when supplies are running low," he added.

In addition to conducting trauma healing for children affected by landslides which were carried out at the evacuation site, Antasena's Quick Reaction Team (TRC) officers also saw directly the landslide locations. One of the landslide victims, Sutrisman, told what happened to him, “Our area is prone to landslides, but landslides haven't occurred for a long time. I felt a tremor since dawn then in the morning I was told by my neighbor, Mr. Parjo, that the road in front of his house had collapsed,” he said.

From the observation in the field, the cleaning of landslide materials has been carried out in mutual cooperation involving the community, the Public Works Service, National Army (TNI), National Police (Polri), Disaster Preparedness Cadets (TAGANA) and Karang Taruna (Youth Organization). Meanwhile, the public works service will deploy heavy equipment to lift and transport landslide materials.