According to Head of the BNPB's Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center Abdul Muhari, several locations have been prepared as the evacuation sites in East Flores, including classrooms of the Etobi Catholic Elementary School in Titehena Sub-district.
"A total of 1,049 residents from seven villages have been accommodated at the Etobi Catholic Elementary School since Saturday morning," he said.
The number of evacuation sites needs to be increased due to the large number of evacuees at refugee camps in East Flores, Muhari explained.
Around 8,431 out of 10 thousand evacuees have stayed at evacuation posts in Titihena, Wulanggitang, Ile Bura, Demon Pagong, Larantuka, Ile Mandiri, and East Adonara Sub-districts, since Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted on November 4, he said.
BNPB would continue providing locals, displaced by the eruption, with the best assistance, including additional tents if school rooms had no longer been sufficient to shelter them, he said.
Muhari stated this endeavor is part of the agency's response to the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources' recommendation that the radius of the eruption danger zone be expanded to nine kilometers in the southwest-northwest sector and seven kilometers from the peak of the volcano's crater.
The expansion of the danger zone radius has triggered an increase in the number of residents who must temporarily be moved to the evacuation sites, he said.
Muhari guaranteed that his party had prepared all basic necessities, such as food, medicine, and additional evacuation equipment, including clean water and portable toilets to ensure the sanitation needs of all evacuees.
BNPB also urges locals to remain calm, follow the government's directives, and avoid unverified information regarding the eruption. Instead, they are suggested to only rely on official information sources, he added.
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Translator: M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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