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Jokowi wants relocation of evacuees accelerated
Reaching out: President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (second left) visits evacuees of the Mt
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span class="inline inline-center">Reaching out: President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (second left) visits evacuees of the Mt. Sinabung eruptions in Karo regency, North Sumatra, Wednesday. The visit was Jokowi's first official trip after being sworn in on Oct. 20. AFP/Sutanta Aditya
On his first official visit outside Jakarta, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo instructed all related institutions to speed up the relocation of the Mount Sinabung evacuees in Karo regency, North Sumatra.
Wearing their white and black 'uniforms', Jokowi and First Lady Iriana were in the regency for more than five hours on Wednesday, meeting and chatting with residents of four evacuation centers.
Jokowi admitted a problem with a permit from the Environment and Forestry Ministry had halted the relocation process for a year and he promised that the problem would soon be tackled.
'I have just called the minister. I told her to solve the permit problem in two days,' he told reporters after visiting a number of evacuation centers in Kabanjahe, Karo.
Jokowi said the permit was needed to acquire the land for building an access road to the prepared relocation site.
He also said that once the permit problem was solved, the 6.5-kilometer access road would be built.
He said he had also asked the Military Region I Bukit Barisan Command to work on the access road. The work, he added, would need a budget of Rp 11.5 billion (US$958,000).
Meanwhile, Sriukur Ginting, an evacuee from Guru Kinayan subdistrict, said the President's visit to Karo was very meaningful to her. She said many of the problems that the evacuees were facing had been solved.
'Hopefully all the things that the President has promised will really be realized. We are happy the President came here,' said the mother of six, adding that her children had been promised scholarships.
Data from the Karo administration showed there were 370 families, a total of 1,116 people, that need to be relocated. They came from the three subdistricts of Bekerah, Sukameriah and Simacem, which were all located in the hazard zone within a radius of three kilometers of the volcano.
The government planned to relocate the evacuees to Portibi Lama village, Merek district, 20 kilometers from Sinabung.
Responding to a question regarding the fate of the evacuees currently staying in evacuation centers, Jokowi said he had handed to each family aid in the form of Rp 500,000 in cash, plus a package of staple foods.
The evacuees would also receive Smart Cards, family welfare cards and Healthy Indonesia cards.
'In two weeks the three cards will be delivered to all the evacuees. If any of them do not receive one, please text me,' said Jokowi while sharing his cell phone number with the evacuees.
Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who was also in the President's entourage, said that so far all the logistical needs of the evacuees had been met.
Khofifah said her office had been processing the distribution of living allowances to the 33,290 victims of the Mt. Sinabung eruptions. She said each of the victims would receive Rp 6,000 per day.
On Wednesday Mt. Sinabung continued to erupt, emitting pyroclastic flows and volcanic ash.
