All Evacuees Of Mt.Sinabung Eruption Accomodated Settlement Areas

MEDAN, N Sumatra, Jan 12 (Antara)- The North Sumatra administration has informed that all people who have been displaced by Mount Sinabung eruptions, have been accommodated in several permanent and non-permanent settlement areas. "In accordance with the wish of the Government and the directives given by President Joko Widodo, there should be no more people stay in refugee locations like what has happened so far," Deputy Governor of North Sumatra Nurhajizah Marpaung said here, Thursday. There were a total of 7,270 people or 2,101 families staying in eight refugee camps before, she said while inaugurating a non-permanent settlement area for Mt Sinabung's victims in Ndokum Siroga village, Karo District, North Sumatra Province. She said the victims of the volcanic eruption were accommodated temporary in the village and later would be given permanent homes currently being built by the government in cooperation with various parties. Having been inactive for four centuries, Mount Sinabung has been coming back to life since 2010 and has been erupting sporadically. Inhabitants of 10 villages located within a radius of three to five kilometers from the mountain top were relocated to new settlement areas in three stages. More than 30 thousand people across 34 villages were displaced from September 2013 to February 2014 as a result of the eruptions of the 2,600-meter-high mountain. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had signed a Presidential Decree No. 21 of 2015 on a task force for accelerating the relocation of victims affected by the eruptions.