President, First Lady Iriana Visit Area Affected by Landslides, Flash Floods in Agam Regency

President Jokowi directly inspects the area affected by landslides and cold lava flow in Agam Regency, West Sumatra province, Tuesday (05/21). (Photo by: Bureau of Press, Media and Information of the Presidential Secretariat (BPMI Setpres)/Kris)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo directly inspected the area affected by landslides and cold lava flow in Agam regency, West Sumatra province, Tuesday (05/21). President Jokowi arrived at the location at around 10.18 Western Indonesian Time.

In the area, President Jokowi inspected the process of cleaning up debris that was being carried out by personnel of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) and the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas). A number of heavy equipment was also seen being deployed to clean up materials resulting from the disasters.

According to President Jokowi, the disaster management in West Sumatra province, including in Agam regency and Tanah Datar regency, has proceeded well. The management steps include evacuating victims, handling refugees, and building emergency infrastructure.

“The construction of roads and emergency bridges has all been carried out and there are still 1-2 that are still in process, this is what we are pursuing so that everything can return to normal as soon as possible,” said the President in his statement before media crew.

In a separate statement, Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto said that the disaster management process has entered its 11th day, and everything was running smoothly. Currently the joint team is focusing on searching for victims who are still missing and cleaning up materials resulting from the disasters.

“On the flanks of the mountain there are a lot of materials that we have to be careful about so that there will be no further disasters,” he said.

Head of Basarnas, Kusworo, added that currently there are still 11 victims who are declared missing. Meanwhile, there are 61 fatalities, 59 of whom have been identified, two others have not been identified.

“In total there are 61 victims (who died), 59 of whom have been identified. On the other hand, 11 (people) are being searched,” he said.

Also joining President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana during the inspection were Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy, Head of BNPB Suharyanto, Head of Basarnas Kusworo, Governor of West Sumatra Mahyeldi Ansharullah, and Regent of Agam Andri Warman. (BPMI SETPRES/AIT)