The Indonesian government would allocate 1.4 trillion rupiah (about 139 million U.S. dollars) to finance the rehabilitation and reconstruction programs in the area suffered the most from major earthquake that rattled West Java on Wednesday last week, the Jakarta Post reported on Tuesday.
Coordinating Minister for the People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said that the money would be taken from the 2009 state budgets reserve funds as government’s funds allocated for disaster management had been used to mitigate other disasters that had hit the country this year.
“We will soon verify how many buildings that have been destroyed and how much damage has occurred. After that we hope we can immediately begin the reconstruction process,” Aburizal told a press conference after a cabinet meeting held at presidential palace in Bogor, West Java on Monday.
The minister expected that the reconstruction projects will be completed by the end of February 2010.
Meanwhile, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan who attended the meeting said that his administration would allocate 90 billion rupiah (about 8.9 million dollars) in West Java for the similar purpose.
Aburizal said that the 7.3-magnitude earthquake centered off the coast of West Java town of Tasikmalaya had affected 14 towns and regencies in West Java, killing 73 people and wounding more than 900 others.
The quake that was also felt in Jakarta, Lampung and Bali had forced 81,000 people to seek refuge, he added.
Citing to the latest reports he had received, the minister said that 54,000 houses had been severely damaged and 114,000 others had suffered minor damages from the quake.
Food and medication deliveries to the quake victims have been running well, saying that the aid had reached the people in need, he said.
Aburizal said that the government would apply the Emergency Response Operation for the quake-affected regions until September 16, except for the certain areas most devastated by the quake.
