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Bogor. The central government intends to provide up to Rp 1.5 trillion ($148 million) to mitigate the impact of last week’s earthquake in West and Central Java that has so far killed 75 and left more than 80,000 homeless.

“At the moment it seems [the budget] will be about Rp 1.4 trillion to Rp 1.5 trillion,” Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other ministers in Bogor on Monday. The money should be distributed by February 2010, he said.

Bakrie said the government was evaluating how much was needed to deal with the damage, but the funds would likely come from the 2009 state budget reserves. He added that Yudhoyono called for co-financing by provincial, district and municipal governments, and asked for an immediate damage assessment and for rebuilding to start as soon as possible.

“Verification [of the budget] is expected to finish by mid-October and then rebuilding can start,” he said.

Bakrie said it was also decided at the meeting to adopt a scheme used after the 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta, with rebuilding carried out by disaster victims under official supervision.

“The central government will transfer the funds to the governor. Then the district heads will be asked to coordinate community groups to rebuild homes,” he said.

In Cikangkareng, Cianjur, where a landslide buried most of a village, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said his administration had allocated Rp 90 billion for disaster mitigation. “But of course that will not be enough,” he said.

The provincial government will give the private sector a chance to provide direct aid by rebuilding the damaged houses, Heryawan said, but so far his office has not received any offers of aid from foreign agencies.

Aid for quake survivors continues to accumulate. Among the larger donors, according to state-run news agency Antara, is the National Handicrafts Association (Dekranas), which has donated Rp 650 million ($64,000) in cash and supplies for displaced residents, including 3,000 sarongs, 1,000 blankets, 1,000 pair of slippers and assorted toiletries.

As of Monday, at least 34 people were still missing and feared dead. Bakrie also said that data showed that 54,171 houses were destroyed in West Java, while 114,601 sustained minor damage. In Cilacap, Central Java, 1,246 houses were severely damaged or destroyed, and 14,446 suffered minor damage.

Also damaged or in ruins were approximately 689 school classrooms, with rebuilding costs estimated at Rp 40 billion.

Meanwhile, more than 270 elementary and junior high school students in Pameungpeuk and Cikelet subdistricts in Garut district, West Java, are refusing to return to their schools because they are still traumatized. Komar, the head of Garut’s Education Agency, said on Monday that officials had been unable to convince the children to return to school.



Additional reporting by Antara