Jakarta. Indonesia has secured a Japanese loan worth 23.1 billion yen or approximately $146.7 million from Japan to repair disaster management facilities damaged by volcanic eruptions.

Indonesia is home to over 130 active volcanoes. Japan, which also has hundreds active volcanoes, recently announced that it had greenlight loans for disaster risk reduction in Mount Semeru, Mount Kelud, and Mount Agung. The first two volcanoes are in East Java, while Mount Agung lies in the tourist haven Bali.

Indonesia will use this Japanese debt to fix the erosion control facilities damaged by the eruptions.  In Mount Agung's case, the loan will help the Southeast Asian country construct such a facility, according to Hajime Ueda, the economic affairs minister at the Japanese Embassy to Indonesia. The funding will also facilitate non-structural measures on disaster risk reduction.

“The project also aims to better reduce disaster risks caused by volcanic eruptions. [...] All three targeted volcanoes had erupted in recent years. … Our bilateral disaster management cooperation dates back to the 1970s,” Ueda recently told reporters in Jakarta.

Ueda said that Japan had agreed to give Indonesia 3 decades to pay off the 23.1 billion yen loan. Indonesia also gets a 10-year grace period. The loan has a fixed interest rate of 1.6 percent. The interest rate for the consulting services portion stands at 0.2 percent per annum.

Mount Semeru erupted in early December 2021, killing at least 34 people. About 17 people went missing. The disaster left 56 people wounded. Semeru also spewed hot ashes the following year, which forced 1,979 people to evacuate.According to media reports, the volcano had already erupted four times on Thursday as of 9 a.m.

The 1,731 meter-tall Kelud erupted back in 2014, and the disaster claimed 4 lives. Over 50,000 people had to flee their homes back then.

In 2017, Mount Agung had major activities, which lasted until mid-2019.

Japan recently unveiled a 15.5 billion yen loan to develop Indonesia’s fishing ports. The loan, however, has a higher fixed interest rate of 1.8 percent. The loan allocated for the consulting services gets an interest rate of 0.2 percent per annum as well. Indonesia has 30 years to return the money. Tokyo has also given Jakarta a 10-year grace period for this fishing port financing. 

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