Ministry of Social Affairs Provides Aid to Flood-hit Area in West Sumatra

TheIndonesia.co - The Ministry of Social Affairs has taken several emergency measures to assist residents affected by floods and landslides in South Pesisir district, West Sumatra province.

"This region has been cut off from electricity supply. For that reason, we came to aid residents by providing mobile generators," Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini informed, while paying a visit to South Pesisir on Thursday to meet residents affected by the natural disasters.

She said that her office had brought two mobile generators to provide temporary power supply to several villages in the sub-district of Sutera.

Rismaharini expressed the hope that the generators would meet the electricity needs of those whose houses have been hit by the floods and landslides.

"Hopefully, these two generators will suffice. We now have a pair of generators that can be used for lighting up paths and roads at night," she said, as quoted by Antara.

In addition, the Social Affairs Ministry is planning to supply clean water for residents by distributing filtered water from a river, she added.

"We are planning to filter and purify water from a river before distributing it as drinking water," she explained.

The minister further informed that the ministry would provide a total of six water purifiers for residents in several villages in Ganting Mudiak Utara Surantih region, Sutera sub-district.

During her visit, Rismaharini also handed out Rp15 million (around US$960) in compensation to the heirs of each person who died in the floods and landslides.

Earlier on Wednesday, the minister also met with people affected by floods and landslides in Padang Pariaman district, West Sumatra, and distributed compensation and logistics aid.