Jakarta. National Nutrition Agency (BGN) said that all public kitchens in disaster-hit locations in North Sumatra remained in operations despite some disruptions in several areas.

There are a total of 179 public kitchens across the flood-hit North Sumatra. These kitchens have prepared meals for 501,945 people. The catastrophic floods and landslides have disrupted operations in 12 public kitchens, six of them are in Medan and one is in Langkat. The other five is in Sibolga.

"Despite disruptions in the 12 kitchens, we will make sure that people have access to nutritional aid by optimizing nearest public kitchens and alternative distribution schemes," Agung Kurniawan, BGN's regional head for North Sumatra, said.

Extreme wealther conditions have affected road access and hampered raw ingredients distribution. BGN has deployed teams to expedite the recovery of affected public kitchens.

BGN's spokesperson Khairul Hidayati called for synergy between all stakeholders to ensure smooth distribution.

"We appreciate the support of local governments, volunteers, and partners. BGN is committed to ensuring the continued availability of nutritional services for disaster-affected communities. This demonstrates the state's presence in a crisis situation," Hidayati said.

BGN is also preparing short-term and long-term recovery measures to ensure all the kitchens can return to normal.