After being given disaster relief aid from the government and various parties and communities, thousands of Mount Sinabung evacuees in Karo regency received on Thursday more aid, worth Rp 4 billion (US$366,000), from the Tahir Foundation and the Mayapada Group
span class="inline inline-none">Welcome relief: Founder of the Tahir Foundation and the Mayapada Group, Dato Sri Tahir (right), hands out to cash aid a Mount Sinabung evacuee at a shelter in Karo regency on Thursday. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)" title="Welcome relief: Founder of the Tahir Foundation and the Mayapada Group, Dato Sri Tahir (right), hands out to cash aid a Mount Sinabung evacuee at a shelter in Karo regency on Thursday. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)" height="333" border="0" width="499">
After being given disaster relief aid from the government and various parties and communities, thousands of Mount Sinabung evacuees in Karo regency received on Thursday more aid, worth Rp 4 billion (US$366,000), from the Tahir Foundation and the Mayapada Group.
Tahir Foundation and Mayapada Group chairman, Dato Sri Tahir, handed over the aid to 10,000 affected families in the form of six trucks of staple food worth Rp 1 billion, and Rp 3 billion in cash. Each family head was given Rp 300,000 in cash.
'We hope this aid will be useful to the evacuees. This aid is a token of our consideration for all the people who have been evacuated due to the Mt. Sinabung eruptions,' said Tahir, who visited evacuation sites at Santo Petrus Catholic Church, the Great Mosque and Karo University.
He expressed his concern when he found out that a classroom at Karo University was being used to accommodate at least 100 evacuees.
He told the evacuees that he would coordinate with other businesspeople to help handle the problem.
Tahir's visit to the Mt. Sinabung area was part of a series of charity events organized by the foundation.
Besides Mt. Sinabung evacuees, Tahir has also distributed relief aid to disaster victims across the archipelago, including Jakarta, Manado in North Sulawesi, and Jepara, Kudus and Pati in Central Java. The total aid awarded amounted to Rp 15 billion.
The Mt. Sinabung evacuees welcomed the aid. Hamzah Pelawi, a Kuta Rayat villager, said this was the first time he had received aid in the form of cash.
'I plan to use the money to buy things for my family,' Hamzah said after receiving the money.
Meanwhile, Karo Regent Kena Ukur Surbakti Karo-Karo expressed his gratitude for the relief aid and even told Tahir he could use 'Karo' as a family name for assisting the Karo people.
The eruptions, which have continued for five months, have displaced more than 33,000 people, who have sought shelter at 42 emergency sites. An eruption early in February killed 17 people, most of them students.
Before that incident, previous eruptions had claimed the lives of 31 evacuees, as a result of various conditions such as breathing difficulties, depression, asthma and hypertension.
Following a recommendation by the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), people hailing from four villages outside a 5-kilometer radius of the volcano have been allowed to return to clean their homes and farms, as volcanic activity has subsided.
The repatriation process will be conducted in stages. Sinabung emergency response commander Let. Col. Asep Sukarna said that all those returning home would be given Rp 6,000 per day to cover living expenses and 30-days worth, or 400 grams, of rice.
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