Indonesia Sets Up Seven Public Kitchens for 31,000 NTT Earthquake Evacuees

August 19, 2026 | 07:01 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs emphasized its commitment to ensuring sufficient food supplies for about 31,000 East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) residents currently sheltering in government evacuation centers and other locations following Saturday’s magnitude 7.7 earthquake.

“There are more than 31,000 people displaced. As of today, the Ministry of Social Affairs has channeled over Rp14 billion (US$780,000) in funding for relief support,” Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He pointed out that the ministry is using the budget to procure and distribute commodities urgently needed by quake-hit communities, including 48 metric tons of rice and 7,500 packages of staple goods.

The ministry, he continued, has also established seven emergency public kitchens supplied with enough logistics to last throughout the emergency response period.

Yusuf noted that the cooking facilities are managed by personnel from the ministry’s Disaster Response Cadet (Tagana) unit, catering to the daily needs of affected communities in Manggarai, Sikka, Nagekeo, West Manggarai, East Manggarai, Ende, and Ngada.

The minister added that the public kitchens have the capacity to prepare between 2,000 and 4,500 meals a day.

He said establishing additional kitchens remains an option to further strengthen relief operations.

He went on to say that the Rp14 billion budget is also being used to build buffer stocks of relief supplies and provide evacuees with children's food, family tents, multipurpose tents, beds, blankets, and emergency lighting equipment.

Yusuf noted that the ministry is supporting disaster response efforts in cooperation with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), regional governments, the military, and the police.

“We are coordinating and collaborating to ensure that all assistance reaches all affected residents and their families. Our support includes supplying sufficient logistics to emergency public kitchens,” he concluded.

Read: Prabowo's Visit to NTT Earthquake Zone Being Planned, Palace Says

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