Tomorrow, Minister of Social Affairs Will Donate 2 Billion Aid for Flood Victims in Masamba

JAKARTA (July 16, 2020) - Ministry of Social Affairs providing assistance to residents who died due to flash floods in Masamba, North Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi.

The Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara explained that all victims of Flash flood must be handled, including those who died. For this reason, all the heirs of the deceased will receive compensation of 15 million each.

"All heirs of the victims will receive compensation of Rp. 15 million. Temporary data on the deceased have been found as many as 23 people," said Social Minister Juliari in a press release, today (16/7).

To speed up the process of giving compensation, Juliari asked the local government to immediately record, verify and validate the heirs.

"Verification and validation from the local government, if it is declared clear, confirms there is a letter, we give it, it's a very fast process," added the former chairman of the Indonesian Motor Association (IMI) for these two periods.

It is planned that the compensation will be given directly by the Minister of Social Affairs on Friday, July 17, 2020.

In addition to providing compensation, the Ministry of Social Affairs will also provide assistance in the form of logistics and food to the refugees.

According to Ari, the Ministry of Social Affairs has provided additional assistance for flood victims, especially for children. He said evacuee children need special intake that is different from adults.

"Diapers, blankets, complete with mattresses, the most important thing now is that there is food too, if the clothes are people can still survive, the clothes are the same," said Juliari.

The amount of aid distributed to flood victims in Masamba was worth more than 2 billion rupiah, consisting of 64.4 million rupiah which has been available since 25 June, additional assistance of 70.5 million rupiah on 14 July, death compensation for 23 people worth 345 million rupiah, assistance for cleaning equipment worth 500 million rupiah and logistical assistance for emergency response to be given cash worth 1.02 billion rupiah.

As is known, the massive flood that hit the Masamba area, North Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi Province on Monday, July 13, 2020, at around 20.00 WITA has affected thousands of residents.

The local BPBD noted last Wednesday afternoon (15/7), after the flood, 156 families (655 people) were evacuated and 4,202 families (15,994 people) were affected. Meanwhile, material losses were recorded as 4,930 housing units were submerged, 10 houses were washed away, 213 houses were buried in sand mixed with mud, 1 Koramil office 1403-11 was submerged in water and 1 meter high mud, bridges between villages were cut off, and provincial highways were buried with mud as high as 1 to 4 meters.

The BPBD of North Luwu Regency and related agencies have carried out emergency handling efforts, such as evacuation and search for victims, rapid needs assessment, handling of survivors and operational command posts. In addition, 4 units of heavy equipment in the form of excavators were deployed to clean the mud in Masamba District, and 6 units in Baebunta District.

The flash flood was caused by heavy rain since the last two days before the disaster. The rain caused the Rongkong River, Meli River and Masamba River to overflow, causing landslides to occur in several villages within the district which caused residential areas, agricultural land, and public facilities and social facilities to be flooded with mud.

Not only mud soaked residents' houses and the city's economic center, tree trunks and wood allegedly from illegal logging also entered the residents' settlements to cover the water level in the local river.

The joint SAR team is still trying to find victims who have not been found.

The team evacuated the day after the disaster occurred. The search for other victims was postponed overnight because the terrain conditions were quite difficult to reach.

Basarnas Makassar divided the team into small groups to facilitate the search process. While the rest were assigned to help other joint SAR teams to identify victims.