REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Mount Sinabung Eruption of Karo District, North Sumatra cannot yet be declared as a national disaster, according to National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

"According to the Presidential Decree (PP) draft, a national disaster is if it causes more than 500 deaths, more than 1 trillion IDR worth of loss and affects several districts in more than one province such that the provincial and district administration cannot mitigate the disaster," Head of Data and Information Center of BNPB Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a written statement on Tuesday.

"Mount Sinabung eruption is still a local/regional disaster. A Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has not yet been established in Karo District and the mitigation had not been optimal at the earlier stage, the budget of the North Sumatras BPBD being very limited," Nugroho explained.

The government has spent at least 43 billion IDR for Mount Sinabung disaster mitigation since September 2013. A national disaster status is declared by the President through a Presidential Decree, while regional disaster is declared by the Governor or the District Head.

Although 95 percent of the aids for the Sinabung disaster are from the central government, the Karo District and North Sumatra Administration are still capable of conducting the government in the region. The disaster did not paralyze the local administration, Nugroho pointed out.

According to Nugroho, in Indonesia, there was just one occasion when the President had declared a national disaster status, during the 2004s tsunami disaster in Aceh. There were more than 180 thousand dead and missing victims at that time. The tsunami had caused more than 45 trillion IDR worth of loss and crippled the local administration.

Meanwhile, the Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) stated that no significant activity took place on Mount Sinabung, allowing some villagers to return home, but only those living outside of the five kilometer radius from the peak were allowed to return to their villages.

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