The Religious Affairs Ministry will deploy trauma healing teams comprising marriage officiants and Islamic religious counsellors to help people affected by the 5.6-magnitude (M) earthquake that hit Cianjur District, West Java Province, on Monday.
“We have readied marriage officiants and Islamic religious counsellors to offer motivation as well as assistance (for the victims),” Acting Secretary of the Directorate General of Islamic Community Guidance at the ministry M. Adib remarked on Wednesday.
Adib stated that the trauma healing teams would be briefed at the Cianjur District Religious Affairs Office before being dispatched to several evacuation posts.
The acting directorate general secretary assessed that survivors of the disaster should be motivated to help them overcome their grief.
“The survivors should not feel down (for) too long, as they should keep their spirits (up) in facing the challenges and moving on with their lives,” he stated.
In addition, the ministry will provide assistance to repair the local religious affairs offices as well as worship places damaged by the earthquake.
Adib recorded that 21 mosques and five religious affairs offices are damaged.
“Out of the five offices, three religious affairs offices are slightly damaged, while two others are seriously damaged,” he noted.
Adib stated that his side will rebuild the severely damaged offices and renovate the moderately damaged offices.
“Regarding the (allocated) amount (to repair the offices and worship places), we will see our budget capacity first,” the acting directorate general secretary remarked.
Adib said his side will immediately hold a meeting to prepare subsequent actions to restore the buildings.
In addition to trauma healing services and the renovation of damaged buildings, the Religious Affairs Ministry will provide funeral services for the deceased.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded that 268 people had died in the earthquake and the number of injured victims had reached 1,083, while the number of refugees stood at 58,362 people, as of Tuesday (November 22, 2022), on 5 p.m. Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB).
Source: Antara News