CIDISS. The damage caused by the earthquake was followed by a tsunami that hit the city of Palu, Central Sulawesi, very severe. The magnitude 7.4 earthquake that occurred on Friday afternoon, September 28 resulted in thousands of buildings being damaged and more than a thousand people dead. The government stated it was ready to build facilities and rehabilitate and reconstruct the homes of earthquake victims damaged by liquefaction (movement of land) and tsunami in Central Sulawesi.
Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono said that the earthquake conditions in Palu and Donggala were relatively different from houses damaged by the earthquake where there were still many materials that could be reused and built by the community assisted by the Government.
While the house material is damaged due to liquefaction (movement of land) and the tsunami has been destroyed and has disappeared so that the reconstruction will be carried out by the Government.
In addition, Minister Basuki said the death toll was not only caused by earthquakes and tsunamis but also the occurrence of liquefaction or land movements that occurred in Petobo and Balaroa.
Basuki explained, our heavy equipment has entered 6 units in Petobo and 4 units in Balaroa including 1 excavator with stone breaker and we will add more considering the extent of the affected area. It is estimated that there are many casualties due to liquefaction. There was 1 loader unit in Balaroa, 4 dump trucks which were placed in 2 units in Petobo and 2 units in Balaroa, with an additional 2 excavators from Makassar. The city cleaning process was carried out using heavy equipment with the main focus in addition to Balaroa, Petobo, the collapse of hotels and Talise Beach.
Ministry of PUPR by mobilizing 3 units of excavators, 5 loaders, 4 dump trucks, 1 grader, including in Loli (Section Palu-Donggala). Targeted city cleaning will be completed within 2 weeks or mid October 2018.
As proclaimed, the Ministry of PUPR asked the contractors to assist in the provision of heavy equipment in order to deal with the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Central Sulawesi.
Director General of Construction Development of the Ministry of PUPR, Syarief Burhanuddin, said that for the evacuation there were some areas where the victims could not be removed and needed heavy equipment assistance.
According to Sjarief, there are currently only a number of contractors such as Adhikarya, Bumi Karsa and several other contractors who can provide a number of heavy equipment for evacuation in search of victims among the rubble due to the earthquake and tsunami that hit the area.
Efforts to rehabilitate and reconstruct the Earthquake Victim Houses by the government are expected to help rebuild the City of Palu and Donggala after the earthquake and tsunami that hit. The government through the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) is assisted by all ministries / institutions and local governments, especially the provincial and district governments are expected to be able to mitigate the impact of disasters and in the future are expected to educate the public regarding disaster mitigation efforts, especially in disaster-prone areas so that communities have preparedness to face natural disasters.
By:Ajeng Mufadillah *)