Pertamina Routes Rp500 Million in Staff-Event Donations to NTT Quake Relief

PT Pertamina (Persero) channelled a total of Rp500 million to communities hit by the earthquake in Nusa Tenggara Timur, money raised in part through an independence-day event for its partner workers at Grha Pertamina on August 18, 2026. A related SindoNews headline puts the health ministry's request for quake reconstruction at Rp1.39 trillion, covering 165 community health centres and 12 hospitals damaged in the province.

The event drew 50 Pertamina partners from firefighters, online motorcycle-taxi riders, motorcycle-taxi stand drivers, gas-powered bajaj drivers, filling-station operators and public infrastructure maintenance staff (PPSU). Each received a staple-food package, and the competitions staged during the day followed the format familiar from August 17 celebrations.

Prize money went back into the relief pool. The winnings the partners collected from the competitions were donated to help people affected by the NTT earthquake.

Among them was Muslihfudin, a 59-year-old gas bajaj driver in Jakarta and a member of the Komunitas Bajaj Gas Jakarta (Kobagas). "Alhamdulillah kami bisa menyumbangkan seluruh hasil lomba ini untuk kegiatan bencana di NTT," he said, adding a wish for the affected communities to recover soon. His comments were received by the newsroom in Jakarta on Thursday, August 20, 2026.

Pertamina Deputy Chief Executive Oki Muraza framed the exercise as operational rather than ceremonial. "Ini tidak hanya simbol. Ini adalah cara Pertamina untuk hadir dan menunjukkan bahwa pada saat masyarakat membutuhkan, Pertamina hadir saat itu juga," he said.

Muraza tied the format to the anniversary itself, saying 81 years of Indonesian independence was being marked not only with competitions but with the awareness that Pertamina staff must remain present alongside the public wherever they are. The company presented the initiative as one way of marking the 81st anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia through sharing.

VP Corporate Communication Muhammad Baron said the partners' involvement gave this year's independence commemoration a particular meaning. He said Pertamina wanted to share the day with its partners and pass that spirit on to disaster victims, describing it as the mutual-assistance ethic the company wants to keep alive.

The scale gap is the substantive point for anyone tracking how national oil companies handle domestic disaster exposure. The Rp500 million total sits against a Rp1.39 trillion health-sector budget request for the same event. Corporate relief of this type is a visibility instrument and a staff-engagement instrument; it is not a reconstruction finance instrument, and the two figures are three orders of magnitude apart.

The underlying seismic activity in the province has continued. A separate SindoNews headline reported a magnitude 5.2 earthquake shaking Ruteng in Manggarai district, Nusa Tenggara Timur.

The report on the Pertamina event was published by SindoNews under the byline of Wuri Hardiastuti on Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 10:44 WIB.