Immigration offices join post-quake aid effort in Cunca Wulang

Labuan Bajo — The Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) regional immigration office says it has delivered relief aid to residents affected by the August 2026 Flores earthquake in Cunca Wulang village, Manggarai Barat, in cooperation with participants of the National Leadership Training (PKN) II cohort XIX.

According to the NTT regional immigration office, the assistance targeted communities outside the Labuan Bajo town centre that were hit by the quake and its aftershocks. The operation focused on residents in Cunca Wulang, Mbeliling district, an area where health facilities and homes suffered significant damage in the weeks after the disaster.

The regional office’s report describes a collaboration involving the NTT immigration office, the Labuan Bajo immigration office and PKN II participants from several state institutions, including the immigration and corrections services, the Attorney General’s Office, the Indonesian National Police and the National Institute of Public Administration. The programme was framed as part of a broader public-service and solidarity initiative following the Flores earthquake sequence.

Support for Cunca Wulang communities

In the official account, an immigration representative identified as Saroha said the officers aimed to support residents not only in their institutional capacity but also as members of the wider community. The aid was presented as an effort to ease some of the burden faced by people recovering from the quake.

The same report notes that residents were encouraged to remain resilient and to work together as recovery efforts continue, with the activity promoted under the messages #KamiAdaBersamaRakyat and #ImigrasiUntukRakyat. Local representatives, including a village official named Pius, expressed appreciation on behalf of Cunca Wulang residents for the support from the immigration offices and PKN II participants.

While the immigration office did not provide a detailed breakdown of the items delivered or the total number of households reached, other organisations have documented the scale of damage in the same village. A report on Puskesmas Warsawe, serving Dusun Watu Weri in Cunca Wulang, describes heavy structural damage to the health centre and notes that services had to be moved outside the building. The field assessment recommended using the local school field as an evacuation and main post location.

Earthquake impact and ongoing response

According to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), a series of strong earthquakes struck Flores and surrounding areas in August 2026, including a magnitude 7.7 event that generated a tsunami and caused widespread damage in Manggarai Barat, Manggarai, Manggarai Timur and other districts. BMKG’s preliminary impact assessment cited dozens of deaths, more than a hundred injuries and varied levels of building damage from light to heavy across the region.

In Manggarai Barat, public services and local businesses have reported ongoing effects. Coverage of post-earthquake conditions in Mbeliling notes that some tourism-linked enterprises, such as a café in Tondong Belang, have continued operating despite damage to customer areas and surrounding infrastructure. Health authorities, working with national crisis teams, have also deployed mobile clinics and specialist doctors to Cunca Wulang and other locations to restore essential services for affected residents.

The immigration-led distribution in Cunca Wulang forms part of a broader relief and recovery effort that includes government agencies, civil-society organisations and private-sector contributors. National and regional initiatives have channelled food supplies, shelter materials, hygiene kits and psychosocial support to communities in Manggarai Barat and neighbouring districts.

Detailed information on the date and volume of the immigration offices’ assistance has not been published, but the operation was carried out after the mid-August mainshock and subsequent aftershocks that damaged homes, health facilities and other infrastructure in Cunca Wulang.

Sources

• Warta PTM
• BMKG press release on Flores earthquake and aftershocks
• RRI report on quake impact on local café in Mbeliling
• Nusa Tenggara Timur Regional Directorate General of Immigration Office