VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jan. 28 - More than 8 thousand houses in Mamuju City, West Sulawesi province, were destroyed in the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the province on January 15, 2021.

"The number of destroyed houses in Mamuju City is 8,000. The West Sulawesi provincial government is expected to complete the validation of data of the houses destroyed in the quake in early March (2021),” secretary of the West Sulawesi provincial government, M Idris Dp, said on Thursday.

The local government is committed to repairing the damaged homes and will provide data on the damage done to houses to the central government soon, he added.

"In addition to evacuating (victims), distributing logistics, and providing health services within the framework of emergency response, the West Sulawesi provincial government is also in the process of verifying and validating the data of people receiving funds to rehabilitate their houses affected by the quake in Majene and Mamuju districts," he informed.

The preliminary data will serve as a reference for the government in repairing damaged houses, he added.

"There will be several teams to ensure (the verification of) assistance recipients by name, by address, by coordinates, and by evidence base. They will validate the data on damaged houses, including mapping of houses into the categories of serious, moderate, and light damages,” he continued.

The West Sulawesi Provincial Disaster Mitigation Task Force had reported earlier that a total of 89,624 people in Mamuju and Majene districts, which had borne the brunt of the quake, were still taking refuge as of January 24, 2021.

"The evacuees comprise 60,505 in Mamuju district and 29,199 in Majene," spokesperson for the task force, M. Natsir, said.

The evacuees are being sheltered in 249 camps, with 105 camps having more than 100 evacuees and 124 camps having less than 100 evacuees in Mamuju and 20 camps with more than 100 evacuees in Majene, he informed.

In Mamuju, the evacuees are in the sub-districts of Mamuju, Simboro, Tapalang, Tapalang Barat, Kaluku, Papalang and Balakkang, while in Majene, the evacuees are in the sub-districts of Malunda and Ulumanda.

About 15 thousand residents had fled their homes following the powerful quake, which left 100 people dead and hundreds of others injured. (Antaranews)