Karet Tengsin fire leaves 1,318 people homeless<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Nurhadi, 43, had just cooked ketupat ( rice steamed in coconut
\nleaves) when a huge fire engulfed his wooden house and another
\n274 houses in Karet Tengsin area, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Nurhadi, the ketupat sayur vendor, lost almost all of his
\nbelongings, the just-cooked ketupat, a push cart, and his house
\nin which he, his father and six brothers and sisters lived, in
\nthe fire on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\"I could only save some of my father's and my clothes as the
\nelectricity was cut when the incident occurred. The room was very
\ndark last night,\" Nurhadi, the father of four children, told The
\nJakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
His children and wife were in their home village in
\nPekalongan, Central Java.<\/p>\n
The fire which occurred at 9 p.m. on Saturday left 1,318
\npeople homeless. There were no casualties reported.<\/p>\n
Dozens of fire trucks and firefighters had difficulty bringing
\nthe blaze under control due to limited access to the location.
\nThey finally managed to extinguish the blaze at about 6 a.m. on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
Police are still investigating the cause of the fire but some
\nresidents said it was caused by a short circuit while others said
\nit was caused by an explosion of a kerosene stove.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, most of the fire victims are being sheltered in a
\nnumber of tents erected on a field in Karet Tengsin community
\nunit 5 (RW5), a place where majority of the victims gathered to
\nwatch an outdoor movie on a large screen when the fire began.<\/p>\n
Other people were sheltered at Bendungan Hilir's military
\ncommand, mosques, neighbors' houses, and houses of relatives.<\/p>\n
For the victims, this was the fourth such incident in recent
\nyears to occur in the densely-populated area.<\/p>\n
Mochtar, one of the residents of Karet Tengsin said that the
\nfirst fire occurred in 1992, the second in 1997 and the third in
\nFebruary this year.<\/p>\n
Governor Sutiyoso, who visited the scene on Sunday, asked the
\nvictims not to rebuild their houses and offered to build low-cost
\napartments at the location.<\/p>\n
But, many residents were still reluctant to allow the
\nadministration to build a low-cost apartment on their land,
\nsaying that they wanted to rebuild their houses.<\/p>\n
\"I cannot make a make decision yet about the offer, but for
\nthe time being, it would be best if we are allowed to rebuild our
\nhouses here,\" said Abdullah Muhammad, while cleaning up debris
\namid the charred rubble where his house once stood.<\/p>\n
Karet Tengsin is one of 53 fire-prone subdistricts among 267
\nsubdistricts in the city which has only 900 fire hydrants, far
\nfrom the ideal of 20,000 hydrants.<\/p>\n
Despite the dismal number of hydrants in Jakarta, the City
\nCouncil is currently proposing to cut the budget for the Jakarta
\nFire Department from Rp 211,555 billion (US$24 million) to Rp
\n184,33 billion.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/karet-tengsin-fire-leaves-1318-people-homeless-1447893297",
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