Religious Affairs Ministry backs Flores quake recovery with aid and counselling
Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has delivered Rp3 billion in emergency aid and deployed religious counsellors to support communities after the recent Flores earthquake, as early assessments record damage to hundreds of houses of…
Editor: Mursyid Sonsang
· Event date: · 4 min read
Labuan Bajo — The Ministry of Religious Affairs and its offices in East Nusa Tenggara are providing emergency assistance and spiritual support to communities affected by the recent Flores earthquake, while damage assessments show hundreds of religious facilities across the region in need of repair, according to ministry officials and local media reports.
The national minister of religious affairs, Nasaruddin Umar, visited Labuan Bajo in Manggarai Barat on 3 September 2026 to deliver Rp3 billion in emergency assistance for earthquake-affected communities and religious institutions, according to reports from Radio Republik Indonesia and regional newspapers. The assistance is focused on basic needs and emergency response for faith-based institutions and staff, not on reconstruction of damaged buildings, pending further coordination with other ministries.
According to the head of the East Nusa Tenggara regional office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Fransiskus Kariyanto, the ministry has been coordinating with local offices since the earthquake to map damage and needs and to channel aid across several affected districts, including Manggarai Barat. Kariyanto said ministry teams have been conducting rapid assessments while additional aftershocks continue, updating data to guide assistance for religious facilities, schools and staff housing.
Damage to places of worship
Preliminary data compiled by the East Nusa Tenggara regional office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs indicate that 509 houses of worship across Flores have been affected by the earthquake. The breakdown reported by Kariyanto includes 422 Catholic churches, 33 Protestant churches, 51 Islamic worship facilities, one Hindu temple and two Buddhist houses of worship.
In addition to religious buildings, the same assessment recorded damage to seven local Ministry of Religious Affairs offices, 12 Offices of Religious Affairs (KUA), one Forum for Religious Harmony (FKUB) facility, 343 homes of ministry civil servants and 94 religious education institutions. Officials have stated that the emergency assistance currently being distributed is intended to support these institutions and households in meeting immediate needs, while decisions on rebuilding will follow more detailed damage verification and coordination with relevant ministries.
Local reports also note that the earthquake and its aftershocks claimed lives within the education sector under the ministry, including one madrasah head and four students, underscoring the wider social impact of the disaster beyond physical damage to buildings.
Emergency and spiritual support
Since the earthquake, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has distributed tents, supplies and other support to affected communities and schools in multiple districts, including Manggarai Barat, Ende, Nagekeo, Ngada, Manggarai and Manggarai Timur. The ministry has provided 16 temporary learning spaces or emergency school tents and hundreds of school kits to help ensure that education can continue despite damage to classrooms.
Local offices in Manggarai Barat have also worked with private partners such as banks and food producers to supply tarpaulins for temporary classrooms and snacks for students, according to regional broadcast reports.
Alongside material assistance, the East Nusa Tenggara religious affairs office has mobilised religious counsellors and preachers from different faiths to provide mental and spiritual reinforcement to affected residents. According to the head of the provincial office, these counsellors visit evacuation points and communities to offer prayers, guidance and encouragement as part of the ministry’s solidarity efforts. Officials describe this as an effort to help residents cope with trauma, anxiety and disruption to worship routines while physical recovery and reconstruction plans are still being developed.
The broader response emphasises solidarity across religious communities, with ministry leaders highlighting that assistance is being channelled to institutions and worship sites of multiple faiths, rather than prioritising one religious group. At the time of reporting, detailed public information on the number of counsellors deployed, the specific locations of counselling activities in Manggarai Barat, or the extent of formal coordination with health or psychosocial services has not been provided in the available sources.
Context
The emergency and spiritual support efforts follow a strong earthquake of magnitude 7.7 in Flores, which damaged infrastructure and religious facilities and led to continuing aftershocks across parts of East Nusa Tenggara. Ministry officials have stated that assistance will continue as damage assessments are refined and as coordination with other government institutions progresses, with a particular focus on ensuring that worship and education activities can resume safely in affected areas such as Manggarai Barat.
Sources
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