Manggarai Barat Uses Extension Workers to Verify Post-Quake Damage

Labuan Bajo — Manggarai Barat Regency has assigned family-planning and agricultural extension workers to help verify earthquake damage reports, with officials stressing that data will be collected down to household level and tied to geographic coordinates according to government and media accounts.

The deployment was formally announced by Regent Edistasius Endi on 25 August 2026 at a disaster-response post, where he said the local government was moving ahead with verification even before the end of the official emergency period, according to the regency’s official information service. He explained that the personnel include family-planning extension workers, agricultural officers and other related agencies, chosen because they are used to reporting data online, using open camera functions and recording location points.

According to the government, the verification teams are expected to produce records that identify affected people at named addresses, rather than only listing damage at village or subdistrict level. The regent said this coordination between field staff and central systems should help both the regency and national government determine the scale and type of support needed, with data accessible via a web platform prepared by the local authorities.

How the verification is structured

In parallel with the regency plan, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has sent teams to seven affected districts across East Nusa Tenggara to accelerate verification and rehabilitation of damaged houses after the 15 August 2026 Flores earthquake. BNPB reports that initial data collection is carried out by local governments, then checked by BNPB to obtain a verified dataset before enumerators are deployed to confirm levels of damage against set criteria.

For Manggarai Barat specifically, BNPB and national media report that a technical survey activity took place on Monday, 24 August, bringing in 120 agricultural extension workers and 76 family-planning extension workers to help determine the degree of damage to houses. These extension staff work alongside public works officers and other local agencies as part of tiered verification, with oversight by law-enforcement personnel to improve transparency and avoid manipulation of the findings.

BNPB’s published figures show 3,732 houses categorized as heavily damaged, 2,014 as moderately damaged and 5,067 as lightly damaged in Manggarai Barat. The agency states that the verification and validation process is intended to produce accurate “by name, by address” data on affected residents, which will then underpin rehabilitation and reconstruction decisions.

By-name, by-address data and oversight

Regent Endi has said publicly that he holds the regency government fully responsible for houses damaged by the quake and that verification must be accurate and transparent. He told local media that verifiers are spread across all villages and urban wards to check every building reported as damaged, with results fed into an application designed to minimize subjective judgments.

According to his statements, the percentage and category of damage assigned to each house is determined by the application rather than by officials in the field or at regency level, with police, prosecutors and the military involved in supervising the assessment process. He said this arrangement is meant to reduce jealousy and ensure that no one, including the regent, can arbitrarily change the verified level of damage once the data have been entered.

BNPB and the regency both emphasize that these verified, location-based records are intended to guide targeted assistance and reconstruction programmes and to prevent gaps or duplication in support to residents whose homes were damaged. At the same time, national coverage notes that verification is being carried out in stages from village to subdistrict to regency level, with designated persons-in-charge responsible for editing and managing the data.

Context: the Flores 2026 earthquake

The verification drive follows the 15 August 2026 offshore earthquake near Flores, which had a magnitude of 7.8 and produced strong shaking across several districts in East Nusa Tenggara. BMKG’s macrosesimic survey found peak shaking of VII on the Modified Mercalli scale in parts of Manggarai Barat, indicating very strong intensity capable of damaging buildings.

Subsequent national assessments estimate that more than 77,000 houses were damaged across the province, with Manggarai Barat among the hardest-hit areas. The use of extension workers and tiered verification in Manggarai Barat is part of a broader attempt to produce reliable household-level impact data that can support medium-term recovery work after the quake.

Sources

• Info Mabar – Rekonstruksi Pasca Gempa, Bupati Edi: Dimulai Setelah Tanggap Darurat 14 Hari Selesai
• Investortrust – Bupati Manggarai Barat: Pemerintah Bertanggung Jawab Penuh terhadap Rumah Korban Gempa
• Katantt – BNPB Percepat Rehab-Rekon 77.912 Rumah Rusak Akibat Gempa M7,7 di NTT
• Owrite – Gempa NTT Rusak 77.912 Rumah, BNPB Kejar Data untuk Rehab-Rekon
• Idisnews – BNPB Percepat Rehab-Rekon Gempa NTT, 77.912 Rumah Tercatat Rusak
• BMKG – Gempa Flores Meluruh, BMKG Ungkap Hasil Survei Lapangan sebagai Basis Mitigasi dan Rekonstruksi
• Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia – Gempa bumi Flores 2026