KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has signed a presidential instruction (Inpres) on disaster mitigation in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, after multiple earthquakes devastated the holiday island.

“Inpres [signing] is done,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Jokowi said the issuance of the presidential instruction would provide a legal basis for the mitigation efforts by relevant ministries and government agencies.

“The most important thing is we have been working on it on a national-scale together with the provincial administration as well as regencies and municipalities,” he added.

Jokowi explained that the reconstruction of the damaged houses and infrastructure had been conducted gradually. The authorities are identifying houses eligible for government assistance.

He also said that he had planned to pay another visit to Lombok soon.

During his previous visit to North Lombok recently, Jokowi reiterated his promise to help victims rebuild their houses. The government pledged to provide up to Rp 50 million (US$3,460) per house, depending on the degree of the damage.  

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded that, as of Monday, the three powerful earthquakes within 22 days in West Nusa Tenggara destroyed at least 72,000 houses, 671 schools, 128 places of worship and 52 health facilities. The quake also killed at least 487 people, injured about 7,700 and displaced more than 410,000.

The government maintained to not declare it a national disaster and issued an Inpres instead as a legal basis for post-disaster recovery.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie