VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Australia will disburse funds worth  2.2 million Australian dollar (about Rp22 billion) to disaster relief agencies of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in supporting both organizations in a bid to respond to Covid-19 pandemic. The fund will support community-based prevention activities,  build local capacity and ensure food security for households whose livelihoods are disrupted by  the Covid-19 pandemic.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia,  Gary Quinlan in a written statement on Wednesday (8/7) stated that since the pandemic has been spreading quickly and its long-term impact is still unknown, Australia strongly  focuses on giving assistance through local organizations to support the government's efforts in the response and recovery phase. Through the Indonesia Australia Partnership Program for Disaster Preparedness (SIAP SIAGA), Australia will provide assistance worth 1 million Australian dollars  for the Institute for Disaster Management and Climate Change of NU (LPBI NU) and 1.2 million Australian dollars to the Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center (MDMC). Chairman of  LPBI NU,   M Ali Yusuf stated that the collaboration aims at supporting the Indonesian government in strengthening community and household resilience in facing the Covid-19 pandemic and adapting to new normal through based-community  preventive effort.  

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of MDMC,  Rahmawati Husein stated that her side will focus on education campaigns and ensure food security for the most vulnerable groups such as layoff-job  victims, people who do not receive government social assistance, households led by women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The SIAP SIAGA program also cooperates  with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and other ministries to support the work of the Task Force for the Acceleration of the Covid-19 handling in Indonesia, which coordinates the response to the crisis.

SIAP SIAGA is a five-year partnership between the Indonesian and Australian governments to foster disaster risk management in Indonesia.  Australia has adapted the development program for 2019-2020, which is estimated to reach 298.5 million Australian dollars in Indonesia, and prioritized 44.8 million Australian dollars to support Indonesia's health, humanitarian and economic response to the Covid-19 handling, including 21 million Australian dollars in  new initiatives.