Jakarta [Indonesia], December 9: Indonesia's Sumatra island will require 51.82 trillion rupiah ($3.11 billion) in reconstruction and recovery funds following a series of deadly floods, senior government officials said.
The death toll from the cyclone-induced floods and landslides reached 950 as of Monday, with 274 people still missing, according to official data. The storms also killed about 200 people in southern Thailand and Malaysia.
Suharyanto, head of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, said that the recovery funds needed across the three provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra may still increase as the agency continues to calculate how much damage has been done.
Among the three provinces affected, Aceh needs the most funds, amounting to a total of 25.41 trillion rupiah, Suharyanto said at a cabinet meeting led by President Prabowo Subianto in Aceh province late on Sunday.
North Sumatra and West Sumatra will require 12.88 trillion and 13.52 trillion rupiah respectively, he added.
The reconstruction process will soon begin in some areas in North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which have recovered relatively well, he said.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
