South Tangerang begins relief distribution

Multa Fidrus ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Tangerang   |  Fri, 11/06/2009 2:45 PM  |  City

The South Tangerang municipal administration began on Thursday a identity verification process to distribute relief funds for 614 families whose houses were damaged by flooding from a burst dam from Situ Gintung lake earlier this year.

Ahadi, the assistant to the municipal administration for governance and welfare, said the process was necessary to ensure the funds were distributed to the right recipients.

"The victims have to verify their data and cash the money between November 5 and 11," he said.

The administration will distribute Rp 4.9 billion (US$510,000) worth of relief funds to the families starting this week.

Each family will receive between Rp 2.5 million and Rp 20 million, based on the severity of damage suffered by their house.

The municipal administration has managed to collect a total of Rp 6.7 billion from donors, Rp 1.5 billion of which came from the Tangerang regency administration.

The administration has distributed Rp 300 million of the total funds to the victims in the form of Idul Fitri allowance.

The donation from Tangerang regency administration was transferred into the South Tangerang administration's bank account so it could not be distributed directly to the victims.

The municipality administration will open accounts at Bank Jabar for every family and the money will be transferred into their respective accounts after the verification process is complete.

The number of flood victims appealing to the municipal government has doubled from 314 to 614 families, forcing the administration to verify each recipient.

In its first day the verification process was slow, forcing victims to wait in line for hours.

Supandi, one of the flood victims, said the process was too drawn out.

"It gave me a headache, the process is not as simple as we thought," he said.

The flood from the burst dam killed 100 people and destroyed hundreds of houses on March 27.

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