GOVT SEEKS PERMANENT SOLUTION FOR MOUNT SINABUNG REFUGEE CRISIS By Fardah

  Jakarta, July 3, 2015 (Antara) -- Located in Karo district in North Sumatra province, Mount Sinabung had been inactive for 400 years, but since coming back to life in 2010, it has erupted sporadically.

        Thousands of villagers have been displaced following Mount Sinabung's eruption in August 2010, in September and November 2013, in January, February and October 2014, and as recently as in June 2015.

         More than 30,000 people across 34 villages were displaced from September 2013 to February 2014, as a result of the eruptions of the 2,600-meter-high mount.

        Mount Sinabung has been erupting intermittently, spewing massive clouds of superheated gas and ash as high as 7,000 meters into the sky and down its slopes in deadly pyroclastic flows.  
    On June 2 this year, authorities raised the alert status of the volcano to the highest level.   
    In addition, the government has declared the area within a seven-kilometer radius of the volcano's peak a danger zone that no one is allowed to enter.

        Some 10,606 people, or 3,121 families, have been displaced and accommodated in 10 refugee camps since June 2015.

        These camps are in Jambur Lau Buah Batu, Kabanjahe Catholic Church, KNPI Kabanjahe Hall, GBKP Kabanjahe Hall, Jambur Sempajaya, Surbakti Orange Warehouse, Jambur Tongkoh, Jambur Korpri, Jambur Tanjung Mbelang, and GPDI Ndokum Church.

         The refugees are from 11 villages, namely Gurukinayan, Tiga Pancur, Pintu Besi, Sukanalu, Berastepu, Jaraya, Kutatengah, Sigarang Garang, Mardingding, Kutagugung, and Kutarayat.

         Moreover, some 500 military personnel have been deployed to prevent local villagers from entering the danger zone of the active volcano.

         "Local inhabitants and refugees from the Mount Sinabung region are not allowed to enter villages located within a radius of seven kilometers (from the volcano's peak)," Commander of the Mount Sinabung Eruption Emergency Response Team Lieutenant Colonel Asep Sukarna said in Medan on June 28.   
    Given the prolonged eruption of Mount Sinabung, the government is attempting to change the way it is helping the refugees, according to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

         A new pattern will be sought because the Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center has predicted that the volcanic activity will continue for five years, the head of state revealed in a limited cabinet meeting held on July 2 to discuss efforts to help victims of the Mount Sinabung eruption.  
    The meeting was attended by Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa, Chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces General Moeldoko, and National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti.

         "I have sent a number of teams there. We learned in the field that they (the refugees) no longer want to receive any visits," Jokowi stated.

         Therefore, the president noted that he will go there only when a new, permanent solution is found to address the refugee crisis.

        Moreover, the head of state has instructed ministries concerned to expedite the construction of houses to relocate the 370 families displaced due to the eruption of Mount Sinabung.

         Some 130 houses have already been constructed, and 370 more will be ready by August, Jokowi affirmed.

         He has directed the state-owned enterprises minister and the director of the state electricity company to provide electricity in the new resettlement area as soon as possible.   
   He has also asked the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry to provide facilities for clean water supply and the social affairs minister to give the refugees necessary household equipment and furniture.

        These facilities are needed to resolve the refugee crisis permanently, the president emphasized.   
   Moreover, Jokowi has disbursed humanitarian funds worth Rp6 billion for the refugees, according to Spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

        "The funds to meet the basic needs of the refugees have been handed over by Chief of the BNPB Syamsul Maarif to the head of Karo district," Nugroho pointed out on June 29. 
   In addition, the eruption of Mount Sinabung has caused damages worth at least Rp817 billion to the local agricultural sector.

        The natural disaster severely affected at least 46,935 hectares of agricultural land and plantation areas, especially chili plantations (1,701 hectares) and orange plantations (1,177 hectares), which are the two main commodities grown by the local people of Sinabung.

        "The volcanic materials spewed by Mount Sinabung have paralyzed the local economy. The two sectors of agriculture and plantation suffered the worst damage from the eruption," he remarked.

        Furthermore, Chief of the BNPB Maarif stressed that the government was not indifferent towards the condition of the refugees and the communities residing around the erupting Mount Sinabung.

        He added that since the eruption in September 2013 till June 2015, the BNPB has granted Rp141.2 billion in funds to the Karo district government and the victims. 
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(F001/INE/a014)
 03-07-2015 23:11:35