T

he East Java provincial administration aims to complete its Mount Kelud post-disaster rehabilitation program, including repairing damaged houses and public facilities, within two weeks.

East Java Governor Soekarwo said the administration would prepare a total budget of Rp 100 billion (US$8.5 million) for the rehabilitation program, comprising the emergency response budget of Rp 35 billion and another Rp 65 billion for home repair.

'€œThe program starts today. If we delay the implementation, we are afraid that the program might not be finished ahead of the campaign season for the upcoming election,'€ said Soekarwo after attending a meeting in Surabaya on Saturday.

A joint team composed of the provincial administration, police and Indonesian Military members will be deployed to repair 8,595 damaged houses.

Among the total, 4,295 have been severely damaged, while 2,207 others have minor damage. A total of 5,897 officers will work on the repairs.

On Feb. 13, Mt. Kelud erupted and displaced tens of thousands of people in Blitar, Kediri and Malang regencies.

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the disaster claimed seven lives and affected 14,400 head of cattle.

The massive eruption also caused volcanic ash to cover cities in Central Java, Yogyakarta and West Java, forcing local authorities to close airports, schools and tourist spots such as the famous Borobudur and Prambanan temples.

A week after the eruption, the alert status of Mt. Kelud has been reduced from the highest, or awas (danger), to the second highest, or siaga (high alert), as volcanic activity has subsided.

As of Saturday, the number of evacuees reached 8,026 and they were located in Kediri, Malang and Jombang, Soekarwo added.

In Malang, the BNPB has provided 30 trucks to take evacuees home to their respective villages, while in Kediri, thousands of evacuees have yet to return home as their houses are severely damaged.

Spokesman for the Kediri Disaster Mitigation Agency, Adi Suwignyo, said that residents were in dire need of housing materials, such as cement, lumber, roof tiles and iron sheets, as well as tools like hammers and saws.

'€œIf you want to help the evacuees, the best way is to donate building materials,'€ Adi said as quoted by kompas.com.

In a related development, the Mendut and Pawon temples in Mungkid district, Magelang, reopened to visitors on Saturday after being closed for a week due to ash from the Mt. Kelud eruption.

During the closure, officers from the Borobudur Conservation Agency (BKB), in cooperation with volunteers, cleaned the ash from the temples.

Marsis Sutopo of BKB said that they had collected seven sacks of ash from the temples, the equivalent of 0.21 cubic meters.

'€œIt'€™s not easy to clean the ash from the walls of the temple. Special care is needed and delicate instruments must be used, not those made of metal. After that, the structure is rinsed with clean water,'€ Marsis said.