T

he Social Affairs Ministry has said it will provide cash assistance to the families affected by a series of flash floods in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara [NTB].

The assistance will be disbursed to families whose houses have been badly damaged in the natural disaster that hit Bima municipality and Bima regency early last week.

“The ministry will provide a monthly living allowance of Rp 900,000 (US$66) per family for a period of three months as well as additional cash assistance of up to Rp 3 million for purchasing household appliances,” the ministry’s director general for social protection and security, Harry Hikmat, said in a statement released on Monday night.

Temporary data shows that as many as 91 houses were completely swept away and 96 suffered medium to heavy damage in four districts. Estimated losses have reached up to Rp 30.1 billion. The flash floods affected 105,753 people and inundated 33 villages in five districts: East Rasanae, West Rasanae, Mpunda, Raba and Asakota.

The cash assistance will be disbursed after the end of the emergency transition period. Families entitled to the assistance will be determined by assessing and comparing data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency [BNPB] and the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry.

Hikmat said that so far the ministry had shipped Rp 980 million in supplies to the region. The supplies include one multifunction tent, 10 family tents, 200 portable tents, 960 blankets, 480 mattress, 480 food packages and 34 family kits.

The ministry has also deployed 155 volunteers from its Disaster Response Team (Tagana). They hail from the neighboring regions of Dompu, Sumbawa and Lombok. Furthermore, as many as eleven trained psychologists and emergency responders have been sent to the affected areas.

Hikmat also pointed out that 100 tons of rice from the Government Rice Reserve (CBP) had been allocated to cope with the needs of the victims.

On Monday afternoon, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa and NTB Governor Muhammad Zainul Najdi visited several affected areas in Bima. “The minister also visited the government rice stocks and ensured that they were sufficient for the next six months. The storage facility in Bima was inundated but the rice stocks in Dompu and Sumbawa are quite sufficient,” Hikmat said.

Toward the end of the visit, the minister held a meeting with relevant agencies and decided to accelerate the distribution of food from the public kitchens in the field to the victims.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, BNPB’s information and data head, stated Tuesday that the flash floods had caused estimated losses of nearly Rp 1 trillion. This estimation is based on collated data from various government agencies. “Temporary data shows that estimated losses have reached Rp 984.4 billion,” he said.

The flash floods damaged 63 health facilities, including four community health clinics, 29 auxiliary health centers (Pustu), 29 village birth clinics (Polindes) and a regional health laboratory with estimated losses reaching Rp 66.4 billions.

The floods also inflicted an estimated Rp 259 billion worth of damage to public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, dams, clean water supply networks and trash collection systems.

Furthermore, the floods also laid waste to the region’s agriculture areas with losses estimated at Rp 5.8 billion. As many as 29 schools were damaged with estimated losses reaching Rp 9.2 billion.

“Losses to private property and personal belongings are estimated at Rp 607.93 billion,” he said

As of Tuesday, as many as 8,491 people are still living as refugees in 30 shelters across the region.