JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Sumatra island will require 51.82 trillion rupiah ($3.11 billion) in reconstruction and recovery funds following a series of deadly floods, senior government officials said.
The death toll from the cyclone-induced floods and landslides reached 950 as of Monday, with 274 people still missing, according to official data. The storms also killed about 200 people in southern Thailand and Malaysia.
Suharyanto, head of Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, said that the recovery funds needed across the three provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra may still increase as the agency continues to calculate how much damage has been done.
Among the three provinces affected, Aceh needs the most funds, amounting to a total of 25.41 trillion rupiah, Suharyanto said at a cabinet meeting led by President Prabowo Subianto in Aceh province late on Sunday.
North Sumatra and West Sumatra will require 12.88 trillion and 13.52 trillion rupiah respectively, he added.
The reconstruction process will soon begin in some areas in North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which have recovered relatively well, he said.
“So, areas that are already in better condition can start the reconstruction process. We will relocate people living in evacuation centers to temporary houses,” Suharyanto said without providing a timeline.
The temporary houses are 40 square-meter plywood structures built by the government for people affected by natural disasters.
“In the next phase, they will be relocated into permanent houses, built by the housing ministry,” he added.
Responding to the initial estimated recovery cost, Prabowo said his calculations were “similar,” without elaborating whether he will approve the spending or not.
“The point is we have the capacity and we will do it meticulously and do our best to manage it,” Prabowo said.
Prabowo also said that conditions in some areas remained serious, with rice fields, dams and a large number of houses especially affected.
“The local leaders reported that there are quite a number of houses that we must help rebuild,” he said.
“In some places, there are still challenges,” he said, adding that the distribution of medication and clothes to the residents must also become a priority.
Indonesia says more than $3 billion in recovery funds required after Sumatra floods
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Indonesia says more than $3 billion in recovery funds required after Sumatra floods
- Death toll from the cyclone-induced floods and landslides reached 950 as of Monday
- The storms also killed about 200 people in southern Thailand and Malaysia
Germany plays down threat of US invading Greenland after talks
WASHINGTON: Germany’s top diplomat on Monday played down the risk of a US attack on Greenland, after President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to seize the island from NATO ally Denmark.
Asked after meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio about a unilateral military move by Trump, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said: “I have no indication that this is being seriously considered.”
“Rather, I believe there is a common interest in addressing the security issues that arise in the Arctic region, and that we should and will do so,” he told reporters.
“NATO is only now in the process of developing more concrete plans on this, and these will then be discussed jointly with our US partners.”
Wadephul’s visit comes ahead of talks this week in Washington between Rubio and the top diplomats of Denmark and Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Trump in recent days has vowed that the United States will take Greenland “one way or the other” and said he can do it “the nice way or the more difficult way.”
Greenland’s government on Monday repeated that it would not accept a US takeover under “any circumstance.”
Greenland and NATO also said Monday that they were working on bolstering defense of the Arctic territory, a key concern cited by Trump.
Trump has repeatedly pointed to growing Arctic activity by Russia and China as a reason why the United States needs to take over Greenland.
But he has also spoken more broadly of his desire to expand the land mass controlled by the United States.
