"We continue to speed up handling in flood- and landslide-affected areas, and continue to collect data on constraints that we must address," Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a coordination meeting in Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday.
She stated that the floods and landslides in the three provinces of Sumatra have damaged infrastructure, including the telecommunication network infrastructure belonging to several mobile operators.
In addition to landslides and floods severing telecommunication cables, power outages in several disaster-affected areas have also caused the Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) of several mobile operators to be inoperable.
Though several operators have made efforts to recover networks by using generators, they could not be operated 24 hours a day due to the limited fuel supply.
"Telecommunication access in several disaster-affected areas is starting to improve, although it is not yet fully back to normal. We continue to carry out repairs so that telecommunication networks can return to normal," she remarked.
The minister noted that, based on data collected, the floods and landslides in North Sumatra, Aceh, and West Sumatra have affected at least 2,804 BTS belonging to mobile operators.
"The acceleration of communication access repairs is continuously being carried out in the three regions," she stated.
This, she further said, is aimed at ensuring that the public can contact their families and also access official information related to the disaster response.
Floods and landslides recently hit Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra following heavy, high-intensity rainfall.
According to data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), as of December 1 at 05:00 p.m., the death toll from floods and landslides in the three provinces had reached 604, while 464 people were still missing.
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Translator: Juraidi, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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