Ngada Prosecutor urges accurate aid data after Flores quake
Ngada District Prosecutor Sutrisno Tabeas has urged officials to base earthquake relief on accurate, verifiable data, warning that poor recordkeeping could create new social tensions.
Editor: Mursyid Sonsang
· Event date: · 4 min read
Labuan Bajo — Ngada District Prosecutor Sutrisno Tabeas has urged officials handling earthquake relief in Flores to base the distribution of cash and goods on accurate, verifiable data, warning that poor recordkeeping could create new social tensions after emergency operations end, according to a report by Florespos.net on 2 September 2026.
The appeal follows the 15 August 2026 magnitude 7.7 earthquake centred in the Flores Sea, which caused deaths, injuries and damage across several districts in East Nusa Tenggara, including Ngada. Relief agencies and local governments have since deployed food, shelter materials, water and other basic supplies to affected communities.
Florespos.net reported that Tabeas conveyed his warning at the Ngada District Prosecutor’s Office in Bajawa on Monday, 31 August, stressing that both monetary aid and physical goods must be properly documented from receipt to distribution. He said data on beneficiaries and assistance should be factual and must not be manipulated, so that planning decisions are grounded in real conditions and do not leave parts of the community behind.
His remarks echo concerns raised by provincial and national officials over the need for reliable impact and beneficiary data after the Flores quake. The governor of East Nusa Tenggara, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, has separately instructed Ngada and other affected districts to complete and verify damage data by name and address, warning that “data must be real and accurate” and that “there must be no data manipulation” in the allocation of assistance.
The regional office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in NTT has also emphasised that valid data is essential for distributing aid fairly, calling on its staff in affected regencies—including Ngada—to gather information directly from communities.
Data at the centre of relief decisions
According to Florespos.net, Tabeas argued that reliable records are needed to determine who qualifies for assistance and how much each household or community should receive. In his view, incomplete or inaccurate information can result in some residents missing out on relief, while others may receive overlapping aid, risking perceptions of unequal treatment.
Officials have begun to use data to steer both government and non-government assistance. Plan Indonesia reports that it channelled more than 250 emergency aid packages to evacuation sites across five districts, including Ngada, based on rapid needs assessments conducted after the 15 August quake.
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has coordinated large-scale logistics operations from hubs in Labuan Bajo and Maumere, sending more than 100 tonnes of supplies to NTT in the first days of the emergency and over 2,100 tonnes of assistance by early September, with allocations determined by reports from district governments and local command posts.
Local authorities in Ngada have also linked aid planning to updated beneficiary data. The Ngada disaster management agency (BPBD) told Pikiran Rakyat that data on 14,850 affected families was refreshed as of 31 August 2026 and that the regency government remains open to revising those figures if additional households are identified as impacted. BPBD officials said this ongoing data collection underpins subsequent rounds of assistance distribution.
Warning against misuse, call for accountability
Florespos.net reported that Tabeas raised his concerns in discussions with the governor about the risk that some parties might exploit the disaster and public solidarity for improper purposes, though no specific cases or individuals were named. His statement focused on setting expectations for transparent and explainable aid records, rather than announcing an audit or an investigation.
Other agencies have acknowledged similar risks. The governor has urged that each recorded case of damage be backed by clear documentation and field inspections, so that decisions on emergency support and longer-term reconstruction funding can be justified to both residents and donors. Civil society initiatives such as NU Peduli, which is distributing food, shelter materials and clothing across all quake-affected districts including Ngada, have likewise based their operations on mapped lists of target communities and sub-districts.
While these efforts point to a growing emphasis on data-driven relief, available reporting does not detail a single, regency-wide system for beneficiary registration, complaint handling or sanctions for data abuse in Ngada. Tabeas’ intervention therefore stands as a public reminder that rigorous documentation and verification are expected as the Flores response moves from the emergency phase toward recovery and reconstruction.
Sources
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