JAKARTA, Aug. 14 -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued orders to swiftly carry out mitigation and aid distributions for people affected by the earthquake on the island of Lombok.
The president made the order on Monday night when meeting with officials in North Lombok, the regency most affected by the earthquake.
Apart from offering fund assistance for families with damaged houses, the president also ordered the rebuilding of traditional markets to secure economic activities in the affected areas, as well as the swift rebuilding of schools and medical facilities.
After the meeting, the president stayed overnight in a tent among refugees sheltered in Tanjung, North Lombok regency before continuing his visit to other places devastated by the earthquake on Tuesday.
As works to fix public infrastructure and facilities are underway in Lombok, Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the reopening of tourism in Lombok was yet to be arranged. But he was optimistic that the recovery may go faster than estimated.
Assistant Deputy Tourism Minister for Region II International Marketing Vicentius Jemadu previously told Xinhua that the tourism recovery in the award-winning destination island may take three to six months due to infrastructure damages.
Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said earlier that the 7-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks in Lombok since Aug. 5 has claimed 436 lives, with North Lombok has the most deaths at 374 ones.
The quake injured 1,353 and displaced over 352,000 people.
BNPB estimated the losses from the disaster reached about 5.04 trillion rupiah (about 345.7 million U.S. dollars) from damaged houses, state facilities and infrastructures.