Vice President observes Bima after flash floods

Bima-wapresri.go.id. On Wednesday (Des. 28), Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his entourage observed the emergency command post (POSKO) in the office of Bima city administration, located on Jalan Soekarno Hatta No. 2, Raba, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, and chaired a coordination meeting to handle recovery efforts after flash floods struck the city.

In the meeting, the Vice President listened to some presentations about the current efforts made to handle the situation from the Mayor of Bima, Military Resort Command (Danrem) 162/WB Colonel Farid Makruf, and the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB)  chairman Willem Rampangilei.

Mayor of Bima Mr. Qurais H. Abidin in his short presentation said that the floods that hit Bima were caused by extreme rainfalls.

“According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the rain was extraordinary during the three days. The floods first struck in December 21 at 4 pm, and just refluxed around 10 pm, which made the entire facility shut down,” he said.

However, he added, now 80 percent of public activities in the city and in remote areas have been back in normal.

“Thank God there were no fatalities. We make sure that children can go to school which will start on January 23 after year-end holiday,” said Qurais added.

In the meantime, Danrem 162/WB Colonel Farid Makruf explained technical handling of post-flood. Farid said, the flood was so extreme that could reach 3-5 meters in height.

“At least five districts and 38 villages in Bima were entirely affected by the floods. There were no casualties, but  731 buildings were damaged. Electricity and other communication networks also shut down,” said Farid.

Farid added, until the 6th day of the disaster, there were 27 refugee camps, and up to now there are 8181 refugees.

“We did our best to get them served well although there are still shortcomings, especially in terms of sanitation and clean water,” said Farid.

Meanwhile, BNPB chairman Willem Rampangilei in his presentation explained the emergency response was done by his agency together with local authorities to recover the city of Bima with priority on cleaning up areas affected by the floods.

“The Minister of Social Affairs has provided aids in the form of supplies for women and children including school uniforms and supplies for the public kitchens. We have also executed what you Mr Vice President instructed to speed up the cleaning of affected areas,” said Willem.

In response, the Vice President first of all conveyed condolences over the disaster that has brought disorder to the city of Bima and disrupted people’s daily activities.

“We experience disaster in many regions. A few weeks ago, Aceh was struck by earthquake. Indeed, each disaster has its own characteristics and impacts,” said the Vice President.

The Vice President then appreciated the hard work of all the parties in dealing with disasters causing damage to Bima City.

In the short term, to restore the city of Bima, the Vice President ordered immediate and accelerated cleaning process so that refugees can return to their homes, and the provision of water tanks to meet the needs of clean water.

“This effort must be quickly carried out, otherwise the implementation cost will get higher,” he affirmed.

For the medium term, he continued, the local government and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing are asked to perform infrastructure improvements.

“Along the way, I do not see any water channel,” said Vice President.

For the long term, the Vice President gave instruction to immediately undertake reforestation.

“We must reforest the hills that surround the city. It’s like what we did in Singapore,” he added.

Right after concluding the meeting, the Vice President and entourage observed the military hospital in Parugan Nae and visit the victims of the floods. After that, the Vice President proceeded to the area of Sultan Muhammad Salahudin mosque to see the logistics command post and public kitchen and perform midday prayers.

Accompanying the Vice President in the visit were Minister of Social Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa, former Chairman of the Constitutional Court Hamdan Zoelva, Head of the Secretariat of the Vice President Mohamad Oemar, Deputy of Policy Support for Human Development and Equity Development Bambang Widianto, and the Director General of Water Resources ofo the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Imam Santoso. (KIP, Sewapres)

http://www.wapresri.go.id/peninjauan-pasca-banjir-bandang-bima/