JAKARTA (July 17, 2019) - Minister of Social Affairs Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita and a delegation from the Ministry of Social Affairs on Thursday 18 July 2019 visited victims of the earthquake in South Halmahera.

Since the 7.2 SK earthquake occurred on July 17, 2019 which resulted in fatalities, minor injuries, severe injuries and displaced nearly 3,500 people, Social Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has quickly ordered the ranks of the Directorate General of Protection & Social Security (Linjamsos) to prepare and distribute various emergency response assistance for victims.

"I ask that it is not until 24 hours that assistance must move to the location of the disaster so that victims are quickly helped, especially with regard to food assistance and other logistical assistance," said the Minister of Social Affairs to Director General Linjamsos Harry Hikmat.

The Ministry of Social Affairs c.q Ditjen Linjamsos has quickly prepared various assistance in stages. And it is hoped that the assistance can reach the victims in the shortest possible time.

To ensure and at the same time see the situation of the victims, Social Minister moved quickly to get to the location of the disaster. From the start since serving as Social Minister, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita gave very high attention to every disaster in various regions, said the Head of Public Relations Bureau Sonny W Manalu who also accompanied the social minister's visit.

Director General of Linjamsos, Harry Hikmat in a written report received by the Public Relations Bureau explained the total assistance of Rp. 1,396,172,490 include;

1. Logistics assistance phase 1 Rp. 4,965,000

2. Phase 2 logistical support Rp. 145,072,000

3. Phase 3 logistical support Rp. 356,135,490

4. Relief packages of 1,200 food packages Rp. 300,000,000

5. Cleaning equipment assistance Rp. 500,000,000

6. Benefit of the heirs Rp. 90,000,000

Thus the Phase 1 assistance that has been distributed includes; 10 unit roll tent, 50 unit mattress; next Stage 2; 4 units of platoon tents, 20 units of family tents and 20 units of tents.

The Phase 3 assistance currently in the process of sending includes; fast food 400 packages, instant noodle 1,600 packs, 5 units of multipurpose tents, 100 units of roll tents, 50 units of velbed, 50 sets of mattresses for the kitchen 1 set. Then in the third stage, in the process of sending also prepared kidsware 50 packages, foodware 50 packages, kitchen utensils 50 packages then blankets 100 sheets and clothing packages 50 packages

Then the fourth stage of aid distributed includes cleaning equipment worth Rp. 500 million includes stemmed mops, buckets, brushes, carts, shovels, hoses, water tanks, boots, and others.

The disaster prepared vehicle assistance that was also prepared included 9 units of RTU, 8 units of Dumlap, 4 units of Trucks, 3 units of Water Tanks, 11 units of Motorbike, 6 units of Fast Boat, 2 units of Pholytiline, and the disaster prepared vehicles were prepared at Dinsos Prov. Malut, Dinsos Hal Bar, Dinsos Kep. Sula, Dinsos North Halmahera, Dinsos Morotai, Dinsos Ternate City, Dinsos Tidore City, East Halmahera Dinsos, Central Halmahera Dinsos, South Halmahera Dinsos.

While TAGANA, which was alerted on the field, amounted to 652 people from BKO, from all TAGANA who were in North Maluku Province.

Based on data obtained from South Halmahera due to the earthquake, it has killed 6 people, seriously injured 2 people, slightly injured 49 people and displaced as many as 3,100 people, scattered in 15 refugee points. The Social Minister will certainly give compensation to the victims of Rp. 15,000,000 per person. The data is the data obtained from the update on July 16, 2019 at 21:00 WIB, hopefully there will be no more dead victims so that the government can focus on handling the injured and those who are in refugee camps.


Head of the Public Relations Bureau of the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs

Sonny W. Manalu