Day: December 10, 2021

The Center for Environmental Health and Disease Control (BBTKLPP), Surabaya, East Java, as the Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) of the Health Ministry, has conducted air and food quality inspections at shelters for Mount Semeru refugees.

Surabaya BBTKLPP laboratory analyst Arifah Hendra said the team has carried out quality inspections of ambient air and indoor air as well as monitored the quality of meals and clean water.

“We are checking the air quality and the quality of the meals as well. For meals, the samples were taken from public kitchens,” Hendra informed on Friday.

One of the inspection locations was the refugee shelter at Supiturang 4 Elementary School in Supiturang village, Pronojiwo sub-district, the analyst said.

Meanwhile, meal inspections were carried out in public kitchens at the same shelter, Hendra added. The meal inspections were carried out to check for nitrate, nitrite, borax, formalin, and E.coli, the official informed.

“We will take samples. In one day, there are three samples. We will check all the public kitchens as well,” Hendra continued.

The sampling and examination results will be analyzed in the existing laboratory, the analyst said adding, the results of the analysis and evaluation will then be reported to the Health Ministry.

“So, every day we will take turns to report the results of monitoring from various shelters,” Hendra said.

Mount Semeru erupted on December 4, 2021, with hot avalanches reaching Besuk Kobokan in Pronojiwo sub-district, Lumajang district, East Java province, at approximately 3.20 p.m. local time.

Pronojiwo sub-district is one of the areas that was severely affected by the eruption. Ten refugee shelters have been set up in the sub-district, with the number of refugees reaching 525 people, officials said.

Based on data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), as of December 9, 2021, 43 people have died and 104 injured in the eruption. Of the total residents who were injured, 32 people were seriously injured, and the rest were moderately injured, officials said.

Source: Antara News

The Central Java government has said it will commence COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 6–11 years soon.

The decision has come following the issuance of the Home Affairs Minister’s Instruction Number 66 of 2021 regarding COVID-19 Prevention and Handling during Christmas and New Year’s Holidays.

“Many people have asked (about children’s vaccinations), including the Tegal Mayor. We will accelerate the implementation after it has been approved,” Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo informed in Semarang on Friday.

COVID-19 vaccinations for children are scheduled to be administered starting December 24, 2021, and regions can carry out vaccinations for children aged 6–11 if their first dose vaccination coverage has reached 70 percent and elderly vaccinations have reached 60 percent, the governor said.

According to Pranowo, the current vaccine stock is adequate and as soon as the vaccine doses that will be administered to children are available, his administration will expedite vaccinations.

Almost all regions in the province have met the conditions to implement children’s vaccinations, he added.

Currently, there are only three districts that are of concern, namely Brebes, Pemalang, and Tegal, he said.

“Teams from the provincial government of Central Java have been mobilized to assist those three districts. We have pushed the district heads and regional secretaries (of the three districts) to expedite vaccinations,” the governor informed.

In a bid to boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government had launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021.

According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of December 10, 2021, nearly 145,085,912 citizens have received their first COVID-19 shot, while 101,794,596 have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

The National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has given permission for the emergency use of the Sinovac vaccine for children aged 6 to 11.

Source: Antara News

The Central Sulawesi administration has targeted the province’s COVID-19 immunization coverage to reach 60 percent by the end of December in a bid to achieve community immunity.

“We need to accelerate this (vaccination program). We must reach 60 percent (coverage) by the end of December. It is even better if we can surpass it,” Central Sulawesi Governor Rusdy Mastura stated at a coordination meeting for the acceleration of vaccination and COVID-19 control at the Central Sulawesi Governor’s Office here Friday.

According to the Central Sulawesi Provincial Government’s data, the province’s vaccination coverage had reached 54 percent. However, in the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, its coverage has only reached 46 percent.

“We are supposed to be in the top 10 for vaccination achievement (rank), but due to the delay in inputting vaccination data, we are in the fifth place from the bottom, as a province with low vaccination realization,” Mastura remarked.

On the occasion, he appealed to all district heads and mayors as well as government apparatus in regions to work hand-in-hand in a bid to expedite COVID-19 vaccinations in their respective areas.

“The president often reminded me about this, and even when I met the president recently at the State Palace, during a meeting that lasted about half an hour, he urged vaccinations to be increased,” he stressed.

In a bid to boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government had launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021.

According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of December 10, 2021, nearly 145,085,912 citizens have received their first COVID-19 shot, while 101,794,596 have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

Source: Antara News

Sexual violence cases in Indonesia, especially against women, largely constituted those occurring in the private sphere, wherein perpetrators were the closest people, National Commission on Violence Against Women Commissioner Veryanto Sitohang stated.

“Based on annual records of the National Commission on Violence Against Women in 2021, some 1,074 cases were recorded of perpetrators being the boyfriends (of the victims), and then there were ex-lovers, followed by siblings or relatives,” he said.

Sitohang delivered the statement during a public discussion titled “Reflections on the Handling and Prevention of Sexual Violence” broadcast on IJRS TV’s YouTube channel on Friday.

He noted that in 2020, data from the National Commission on Violence Against Women showed that violence was often committed by boyfriends, with cases reaching up to 1,320 followed by biological fathers, with the case count reaching 618.

From the evaluation of data, Sitohang opined that the existence of safe spaces for women from their closest environment was questionable.

“(Ironically,) people who know the victim are the perpetrators of sexual violence. I think the safe space for women, which should have started from the home, (its existence is) questionable,” he emphasized.

Sitohang also noted that the current form of sexual violence was not only limited to sexuality but also torture and murder.

He also drew attention to some of the obstacles that oftentimes hindered women victims of sexual violence in seeking justice.

Sitohang pointed out that they were often prohibited from reporting cases, as their experiences were considered disgraceful, and in some cases, the victims felt intimidated by the perpetrators. Women forced to remain silent in such cases would experience prolonged depression and possibly commit suicide. He cited Novia Widyasari’s case as one such example.

The victims are often weighed by the task of finding evidence. Moreover, most of the times, the cases are handled in ways that were not victim-oriented.

“The questions posed by law enforcement officers, the police, and the courts, actually scared the victims (to the point of being) traumatized. Thus, she did not want to follow up with the case,” he remarked.

Sitohang also expected such issues to be immediately addressed by the stakeholders, especially law enforcement officers, so that the cases were solved in a way that took into account the sexual violence victim’s point of view.

Source: Antara News

Government spokesperson for COVID-19 Handling, Reisa Broto Asmoro, has urged all parties to remain alert even though genome sequencing has not detected the Omicron variant in Indonesia.

“Even though as of last night, Indonesia’s whole genome sequencing has shown that the Omicron variant is not found yet in Indonesia, high vigilance will still bring benefits to all of us compared to being careless and complacent,” she said at a virtual press conference, accessed here on Friday.

In facing the new COVID-19 variant, vaccines can still protect humans from severe illness and death, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), she noted.

The WHO has also urged all governments and agencies to use all the equipment they have for prevention, testing, and treatment in a bid to fight COVID-19, she added.

One of the efforts is accelerating COVID-19 vaccinations, especially for groups who are most vulnerable to the virus, Asmoro said.

The Indonesian government has continued to increase the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the country, she added.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has instructed all vaccination service posts, port health offices, hospitals under the Ministry of Health, and health polytechnics to vaccinate all targets regardless of their domicile, she informed.

According to data provided by the Health Ministry, as of December 10, 2021, nearly 145,085,912 citizens, or 69.66 percent of the targeted 208,265,720 recipients, have received their first COVID-19 shot, while 101,794,596 or 48.88 percent have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

“Let us use this Christmas and New Year celebration as proof that we, the 280 million people of Indonesia, believe it is better to prevent, control transmission now than to treat and experience an alarming spike in cases later in 2022,” the spokesperson remarked.

Source: Antara News

The victims of the Mount Semeru eruption are in urgent need of clean water and underclothes, the commander of the disaster emergency response team, Colonel Inf Irwan Subekti, has informed.

“With the many evacuation points, the current urgent needs are water tanks, clean water, and cleaning utilities,” he said at a press conference on ‘The Review of Disasters in December and Post-Eruption Development of Mount Semeru’, here on Friday.

Mount Semeru victims also need sleeping equipment such as pillows and mattresses, toiletries such as soap, he added. Men and women, especially mothers, urgently need underclothes, he said.

“This is what we hope for from anyone who wants to donate as the team is receiving a large amount of supporting logistics,” Subekti said.

Assistance such as food and daily clothing is quite abundant, he informed adding, the logistical assistance is centered in Lumajang district’s post.

According to Subekti, this proves the high enthusiasm of the community in helping others.

Furthermore, large evacuation points have been set up at 24 locations, he said. Ten evacuation points are located in Pronojiwo sub-district, ten in Candipuro sub-district, and four are spread throughout Pasirian sub-district, East Java, he added.

“The assistance and volunteers are abundant. Also, there are 102 evacuation sites scattered throughout sub-districts of the Lumajang district,” he said.

The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has released a guideline for important logistics or supplies during a disaster in order to protect the self and family, he noted.

PVMBG has asked residents to ensure their disaster alert bag or first aid kit boxes have the following items: medicines, masks to filter dirty and polluted air, whistles to ask for help during emergencies, cash for emergency purposes, three days’ supply of food and drink, flashlights, and batteries.

Next, evacuees should bring mobile phones or portable radios for getting information, and important documents and letters such as family cards, diplomas, and family photos for post-disaster use, according to the center.

Source: Antara News

The death toll in the eruption of Semeru, a volcano in Indonesia’s island of Java, has risen to 43, with 104 people injured, the National Disaster Management Agency said yesterday.

Yesterday’s evacuation process was stopped, as the search and rescue location was covered by dark and overcast clouds, to avoid flooding of volcanic ash, according to the agency’s spokesperson, Abdul Muhari.

“Based on a visual report, thick smoke was also sliding from the peak of Semeru up to 1,000 metres to the west, to south-west direction this (yesterday) morning,” Muhari said.

More than 6,000 people remain in 121 evacuation points, as their homes were swept away by volcanic ash or their settlements are located in the danger zone.

The eruption killed thousands of livestock, such as cows, goats and poultry. Dozens of public facilities, including a bridge connecting districts, were damaged.

Authorities are reviewing the construction of a temporary emergency bridge, to connect the districts of Lumajang and Malang.

The 3,676-metre-high volcano erupted on Saturday.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK