TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Chief, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, stated that the Mount Sinabung eruption was not a national disaster. This is because, according to him, the regional government is still functional.
"The president had only announced a national disaster once, which was the Aceh tsunami in 2004," he said at the BNPB office, Central Jakarta, earlier today.
Sinabung first erupted hot clouds in mid September 2013. The hot clouds reached 700 Celsius and 4,500 meters far.
To date, he said, there were 30,177 evacuees or 9,388 families. The number came from 34 villages and 4 sub-districts. They are Payung, Simpang Empat, Namantran and Tiganderket.
"They are all within the radius of five kilometres from the eruption," he said. There are still 18 villages that still need to evacuate (its residents).
Sutopo said, government bodies have joined to evacuate residents that still remained within the radius of three kilometres. According to him, the joined team consisted of the Indonesian Army, Police, the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), and volunteers. "There are total of 170 personnel," he said.
AMRI MAHBUB