The number of refugees has risen from 519, as reported on Saturday, to 1,692 people on Sunday morning after locals who survived the landslides also flee their homes, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said here Sunday.
Speaking to journalists after visiting a refugee shelter and the landslide victims being hospitalized at Karangkobar health center here, she said a more intensive coordination was needed to assist all these displaced people.
"The disaster mitigation should be managed well because it involves various parties, including the district and provincial governments, the disaster mitigation agency, and the Indonesian Red Cross," she said.
Therefore, an updated data on the exact number of refugees must be available because it will enable those in charge of distributing humanitarian aids to reach all disaster victims at the right time, she said.
The Social Affairs Ministry, she said, was responsible for providing the refugee shelters with public kitchens as part of the logistics.
In another development, the Ansor Youth Movement, the youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama (Indonesias largest Islamic organization) has deployed 300 volunteers to help search and rescue the landslide victims on the disaster zone.
The volunteers would work with members of the joint-search and rescue teams who had been at the disaster zone, said Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, chairman of the GP Ansor.
President Joko Widodo has also been scheduled to visit the site of the major landslides that reportedly buried more than 100 villagers.
The deadly landslides that occurred on Friday and Saturday are not the first natural disaster for Banjarnegara. There have been four other land and mud slides in the district from 2006 to 2014.
Reported by Heru Suyitno and Wisnu Adhi N
(T.R013/f001 )
(T.R013/C/R013/F001)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
