Government pledges food aid for flood-affected families

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will for the next two months provide basic food items for flood victims in order to improve their nutritional status as well as goods and service flow in the city, a minister says.

The provision of food assistance is part of efforts to prevent any further social and economic impacts from the disaster.

"The main focus after the flooding is on how to keep the economy running as usual, in terms of common businesses, industries, and the basic needs of the public," Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono said Monday after a ministerial meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the matter at the State Palace.

"We will continue supplying the market with as much staple food as needed, mainly rice for those affected by the flooding, and recover export, import and distribution activities."

Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said the distribution of basic food items -- primarily rice -- would be conducted in the standard manner for any region struck by a disaster.

"How much we provide will depend on the data on victims as reported by the Provincial Disaster Coordination Board (Satkorlak) and the National Disaster Management Coordination Board (Bakornas)," he said.

Aburizal said a household might receive a 10-kilogram monthly rice ration, estimating a total of 6,000 tons for the next two months if 300,000 people were affected.

The government will provide the rice from the Social Affairs Ministry's 230,000-ton emergency stock of rice for disaster purposes, he said.

Boediono said the government would also provide health services as needed for the victims, and ensure security during the post-flooding recovery process.

Torrential rains earlier this month inundated more than half of the capital, taking a toll of at least 50 lives, and forcing some 500,000 others to seek refuge. .

Deputy head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Lucky Eko Wuryanto provided the latest estimate of Greater Jakarta's total flood losses of Rp 8 trillion (US$888 million), an increase from the previous Rp 4.3 trillion estimate.

Bappenas is assessing how much of the losses the central government and the Jakarta administration will each shoulder.

The flooding, having disrupted the distribution of goods in the capital, could potentially push up inflation, which has recently been slowing but has also been affected by the recent spike in rice prices.