TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - At least 326,000 houses lost their electricity supply after Monday's strong earthquake in Cianjur, West Java. According to PLN president director Darmawan Prasodjo, the electricity system in the area was back running at 100-percent capacity 36 hours after the earthquake.

"That means 36 hours after the earthquake in Cianjur, we managed to normalize our electricity system," he said in Jakarta, Wednesday, November 23.

The state power company immediately mapped out the areas affected by the Cianjur earthquake. They found 1,800 centrado distribution transformers were damaged.

"Many power poles were broken, collapsed, and shifted," Darmawan said.

PLN, he said, immediately sent their staff in West Java, DKI Jakarta, Banten, Central Java and East Java to help. Within minutes, they left for Cianjur.

The first thing PLN did was restart the electricity system at Cianjur General Hospital before restarting all distribution transformers one by one. PLN also rushed to repair the transmission line and redistribute the repaired power poles and cables.

Darmawan also ensured that PLN officers who were still in the field are doing humanitarian work by opening a public kitchen that provided 1,500 food packages, and will continue to work until the situation returns to normal.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported that 271 died as a result of the earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale on Monday afternoon that also destroyed houses, buildings, and roads, and caused landslides in several districts of Cianjur. Indonesian authorities are also still looking for dozens of missing persons.

NABILA NURSHAFIRA

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