Musi Rawas Utara (January 15th, 2024) – Until Monday night (January 15th), some areas of Karang Dapo in Musi Rawas Utara (Muratara) Regency are still flooded. Four-wheeled vehicles are unable to access some villages such as Karang Dapo 1 and Rumbai Kadam Village because they are flooded up to 1 meter high.

Therefore, Ministry of Social Affairs together with Disaster Response Volunteers distribute meals by boat. They go around handing out meals to the residents who still live on the second floor of their houses. Some meals are also distributed through the village head and local hamlet head.

Rudi Hartono, the head of Hamlet One, Karang Dapo 1 Village said since the flood hit on Wednesday (January 10th), some of the residents still live on the second floor of their house. Some evacuate to their kin’s house or neighbor. Meanwhile, they depend on independent kitchens with minimum utensils for food because access to food supplies is also cut off.

“Yes, we temporarily live in our house for now because most of the houses are on stilts. The water has not receded until tonight. For food, we cook using whatever stove there is. Thank you, God, Ministry of Social Affairs help us with meals,” Rudi Hartono said. 

Ministry of Social Affairs distributes 3,000 meals a day which are distributed three times daily in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. Thousands of meals are cooked in the field kitchen built in Asy Syuhada Mosque in Rumpit. 40 personnel of Disaster Response Volunteer (Tagana) assisted by social pillars and the locals are involved in cooking the food in the field kitchen.