This is because they are enrolled in schools. The benefits will cover their educational needs, and we will also provide them with rations to cover their basic needs
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Social Affairs Ministry has confirmed that the process is underway to collect data of children that lost their parents to the Semeru eruption and got orphaned to ensure precise distribution of social benefits.

"We are currently collecting the data of orphans. I had instructed officials there to commence the data collection process on my recent visit, and the data will be used to distribute social benefits to orphans and their families,” Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini stated at the ministry's office here on Tuesday.

Rismaharini confirmed that families opting to take orphans under their care will receive social benefits, especially those that lost their breadwinners.

"We will document every orphan and family that decided to take them because yesterday, I received information that several orphans have been taken care of by their relatives," the minister remarked.

The ministry's social benefits comprise educational benefits and basic needs subsidy, Rismaharini noted.

"This is because they are enrolled in schools. The benefits will cover their educational needs, and we will also provide them with rations to cover their basic needs," Rismaharini remarked.


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Earlier, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) confirmed that as of Monday (Dec 13, 2021), the total casualties in the Semeru eruption and pyroclastic flow reached 48 people following the latest finding of two other bodies of victims.

"Moreover, the cumulative count of injured victims treated at public health centres and healthcare facilities reaches 2,004 people," the agency's acting head of disaster information and communication data centre, Abdul Muhari, stated.

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Some 18 victims are currently recovering at hospitals after receiving medical treatment from health workers, he noted.

Muhari stated that heavy equipment deployed for the rescue efforts will be used to reopen road access between the districts of Lumajang and Malang in Kamarkajang Hamlet, currently under reconstruction, with the work having reaching 80-percent completion.

Some 11 rescue dogs from the central and regional police forces were also deployed to assist rescue efforts in regions affected by the eruption, he stated.

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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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