The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) is targeting to complete the relocation of earthquake-affected residents in Cianjur district, West Java, by June 2023.

“We have made a timeline. The completion is by June 2023; currently, we have started to build prototype houses at several locations,” BNPB’s deputy for rehabilitation and reconstruction, Jarwansyah, said in an online interview here on Wednesday.

One to two units of prototype houses are being built in each affected sub-district, and will be handed over to affected residents, he informed. The prototypes comprise type 36 and earthquake-resistant homes.

Of the 60 thousand houses affected in the quake, 50 percent have been mildly damaged, 30 percent have been moderately damaged, and 20 percent have suffered heavy damage.

Since last week, the Cianjur administration and BNPB have asked residents whose homes have suffered slight or moderate damage to return as the aftershock intensity has declined.

BNPB will provide a waiting fund for two to three months to residents whose homes have been heavily damaged to meet their needs while they temporarily stay at relatives’ homes or in temporary housing.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has assured that the relocation areas selected in the three sub-districts have been carefully studied by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

Meanwhile, chief of the BNPB, Lt. Gen. Suharyanto, said that the agency has prepared 16 hectares of land for the relocation of residents whose homes have been heavily damaged.

The central government will build the houses, he informed.

The old areas will be used as water catchment areas and green spaces so they will no longer be inhabited by the community, he added.

Furthermore, residents whose homes have been lightly damaged have been allowed to repair their homes.

Source: Antara News