Govt to start distributing cash aid to quake victims

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/27/2006 3:53 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will soon distribute 30 percent, or Rp 1.2 trillion (US$127.7 million), of the total money earmarked to rebuild houses destroyed by the May 27 earthquake that hit Yogyakarta and Central Java.

Chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie said Monday the payments, to be disbursed in cash, would begin on July 2.

The government had earlier promised to give Rp 30 million in cash payments to each family whose houses had been completely destroyed by the earthquake and Rp 20 million each to those whose homes were damaged.

Government data shows 230,269 houses were completely destroyed or damaged beyond repair by the devastating quake, while 172,674 others suffered minor damage.

Aburizal, speaking at a consultative meeting of a team of lawmakers dealing with natural disasters, said the government needed around Rp 30 trillion to rebuild all the earthquake-damaged houses in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

The government was planning to begin rebuilding all the destroyed houses within a month, he said.

""We hope that we can rebuild about half of the damaged houses in Yogyakarta in the next six months,"" he said.

He said the cost of rebuilding the damaged houses was higher than the government had expected. Days after the earthquake, the government had received a report indicating there were only 124,000 houses that were totally destroyed.

""We thought that we just needed Rp 1.1 trillion, but there are in fact more houses that need to be rebuilt,"" he said.

Aburizal said the government was seeking extra money from the state budget for the rebuilding program. ""We also plan to get grants from foreign donors. The last choice we have is to increase the national debt.""

The government has received Rp 23 billion from donors to help the reconstruction efforts in Yogyakarta.

""We have spent some of the money on our operations,"" he said, without naming an amount.

Officials had also been in talks with the Consultative Group on Indonesia about getting a loan for reconstruction programs, he said.

The minister said the government was prioritizing rebuilding houses because many residents were still living in tents in front of their homes.

""Yogyakarta residents are different from those in Aceh. They refuse to live in tents that the government has provided them because they want to guard their houses.""

He said the government had brought in 10,000 tents from Medan, North Sumatra, for the victims. (05)

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