REHAB, RECON PROGRAMS IN W SUMATRA, W JAVA IMPLEMENTED GRADUALLY

Solo, Jan 17 (ANTARA) - Programs for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of homes and buildings destroyed by earthquakes in West Sumatra and West Java are being carried out gradually in accordance with the availability of state budget funds, a minister said.

The Rp1 trillion rehabilitation and reconstruction budget for West Sumatra had been approved by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the House of Representatives Commission VIII, and is expected to be disbursed soon, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare R Agung Laksono said at the Indonesian Art Institute's (ISI) Theater building in Surakarta on Saturday.

"The Rp6 trillion budget provided by the government for the mitigation of natural disasters in Sumatra and West Java is based on the ability of our country and are expected to be disbursed in January," he said.
Meanwhile, the government was also expected to send volunteers to Haiti to help victims of the devastating earthquake that hit the caribbean counry last Tuesday, resulting in thousands of casualties.

"Haiti is also located in the earthquake prone "ring of fire" area and countries located in a similar area should show solidarity with Haiti now. Hopefully today or tomorrow our team of voluntears will depart for Haiti," Laksono said.

About other programs managed by the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Laksono said rations under the rice-for-the-poor (Raskin) program would this year be increased from 13 kg to 15 kg per household head.

To enable the bigger portions, the president had approved an increase of Rp2 trillion in the state budget allocaton for the Raskin program, he said.

"The current Poor Households (RTM) target is 17.5 million households and they can hopefully all be covered in the revised state budget in March," he said.