TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Handling of Mount Semeru's hot cloud avalanche disaster in Lumajang District, East Java, currently focuses on the early recovery phase, National Disaster Mitigation Agency's (BNPB's) official, Abdul Muhari, stated.

Muhari made the statement on account of the fact that the victim search phase had officially been discontinued, while the refugee count had risen due to Mount Semeru's activities.

"Hence, the process now shifted from the victim search phase to the early recovery phase," the agency's official noted during an online press conference here on Friday.

Since the 10th day of the operation to search for victims and implementation of the Lumajang District Emergency Response Status from December 4 to December 17, 2021, no other bodies were found.

To this end, since December 13, 2021, a decision was taken to halt activities to search for the missing victims' corpses.

Related news: Mount Semeru eruption: Death toll climbs to 43

However, until December 16, 2021, the refugee count increased to 10,571.

"This has become our current and future focus. We expect that the people affected by the disaster would not stay too long at the evacuation site," Muhari affirmed.

The search for missing victims' corpses will be conducted concurrently with the transition process toward early rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, such as the recovery of river flow.

Along with the increasing status from alert to standby from December 16, 2021, the government has urged people to not conduct any activities in the southeast sector along the Besuk Kobokan, 13 km from the summit.

Moreover, people are not allowed within a radius of five kilometers from Mount Semeru's summit on account of the risk posed by the mountain's activity.

Read: Death Toll Rises to 29 in Mount Semeru Eruption

ANTARA