T

he National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has withdrawn a number of its personnel involved in Mount Sinabung disaster response efforts in Karo regency, North Sumatra, despite its '€œalert'€ status.

The BNPB said disaster mitigation efforts would later be fully managed by the Karo regency and North Sumatra provincial administrations.

BNPB chief spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said BNPB had withdrawn its personnel from Mt. Sinabung as the system was running effectively, so the Karo regency administration and North Sumatra BNPB could play a more active role.

'€œNot everything must be handled by the central government, so we have withdrawn our personnel to deal with disasters in other areas,'€ Sutopo said on Friday.

He added that the BNPB would still provide assistance needed by the Karo regency administration. He said in the event of an emergency, the BNPB would redeploy its personnel.

Sutopo acknowledged that Mt. Sinabung'€™s condition remained unpredictable and that it would likely erupt again.

It remains unclear when the status will be lowered as it depends on recommendations from the Geological Disasater Mitigation and Volcanology Center. He said evacuees were not allowed to return home as long as Mt. Sinabung'€™s status was unchanged.

Karo regency chief spokesman Jhonson Tarigan confirmed that BNPB personnel had been withdrawn from the disaster area.

'€œThus far, we have always been assisted by the BNPB in the disaster management of Mount Sinabung, but now we are ready to manage without the BNPB,'€ said Jhonson, who acknowledged that disaster mitigation was still being assisted by a number of regencies, municipalities and the provincial administration.

He added that one of the difficulties thus far was the lack of a BNPB office in Karo regency. He said a proposal to form the Karo BNPB had been approved by the regency council and was currently in the process of being endorsed by the central government.

'€œWe hope the central government quickly approves the Karo BNPB so we can immediately manage the Mt. Sinabung disaster,'€ said Jhonson.

Based on data from the Karo administration, the current number of evacuees stood at around 17,300 lives. They are being accommodated at 31 shelters in the four districts of Kabanjahe, Berastagi, Payung and Tiga Nderket.

Sutopo said to help alleviate the misery faced by evacuees, the central government had disbursed
Rp 7.2 billion (US$589,487) for the cash-for-work program, adding that the assistance was allocated for eruption victims who lost their source of income while taking refuge.