Recent floods not national disaster: Govt<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government has refused to characterize the recent
\nextensive floods that have paralyzed the capital and other cities
\nthroughout the country as a national disaster despite mounting
\npressure from the public and the fact that the catastrophe has
\nkilled at least 58 people nationwide.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla told
\nreporters after a meeting with Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso at City
\nHall that it was not necessary to designate the recent calamity a
\nnational disaster.<\/p>\n
\"There is no need to declare it a national disaster. It's just
\na (common) disaster,\" Jusuf said after the meeting which was also
\nattended by five other Cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n
Impatient with the government's sluggish and inept response to
\nthe floods, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien
\nRais urged the government on Monday to declare a national
\ndisaster in the wake of the calamity, which claimed more than 30
\nlives in Jakarta alone.<\/p>\n
\"What the government has been doing is far from being
\nadequate. The designation of the floods as a national disaster is
\nneeded to help maximize interdepartmental cooperation,\" Amien
\nsaid after receiving the Czech deputy prime minister and foreign
\naffairs minister M. Jan Kavan.<\/p>\n
Amien added that judging from the impact of the flooding
\nnationwide, it was more than enough to warrant the declaration of
\na national disaster.<\/p>\n
To make matter worse, up to now there were still many
\ncomplaints from flood victims complaining that humanitarian aid
\nhad yet to reach them, he said.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives' Commission I on foreign policy
\nand security affairs also concurred in Amien's remarks.<\/p>\n
The declaration of a national disaster, according to
\ncommission member Ibrahim Ambong would enable all national
\nforces, including the military, to launch a concerted effort to
\ndeal with the disaster.<\/p>\n
Rather than just declaring the floods to be a national
\ndisaster, however, Jusuf was of the opinion that it was more
\nimportant for the central government to take action so as to help
\nlocal administrations deal with the aftermath of the flooding.<\/p>\n
Arguing that the declaration of a national disaster was more
\nappropriate to past years when the government was very
\ncentralized, he continued by saying, \"It's now the regional
\nautonomy era. We don't need those kinds of terms. Action is more
\nimportant than words.\"<\/p>\n
According to the Minister of Resettlement and Regional
\nInfrastructure, Soenarno, the cost of the physical damage caused
\nby the floods in Jakarta had yet to be calculated, but the cost
\nof similar calamities in North Sumatra, South Sulawesi and Java's
\nnorth coast was estimated at about Rp 150 billion.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a lack of water catchment areas due to the rapid
\nincrease in the population of the capital city was to blame for
\nthe severe flooding and landslides that had hit the capital city
\nand surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
\"Heavier rainfall would not make any difference if there were
\ngood water catchment areas. But, the ability to absorb water has
\nbeen decreasing,\" State Minister for the Environment Nabiel
\nMakarim told reporters after a hearing with legislators here on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Nabiel revealed that there had been efforts made by the
\ngovernment to prevent the floods, but rampant violations of the
\nregulations had thwarted them.<\/p>\n
The minister recalled a number of violations by businessmen
\nand state officials who were opposed to environmental
\nconservation policies.<\/p>\n
When Emil Salim was the environment minister in the 1980s, he
\nhad issued a decree banning the construction of villas in the
\nhilly resort area of Puncak in Bogor, West Java, from which all
\nthe major rivers traversing Jakarta originate.<\/p>\n
But business interests had prevailed and the conservation
\npolicies had been abandoned.<\/p>\n
\"Several lakes between Bogor and Jakarta have also been
\nreclaimed to build real estate complexes. This has reduced the
\nextent of water catchment areas,\" Nabiel said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Antara in New York, Emil Salim said the government
\ncould have prevented the disaster 10 years ago through an
\nintegrated conservation program.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, he said, his recommendations were ignored by
\nhis colleagues in government.<\/p>\n
\"Now, we can learn a lesson about the causes and the effects
\nof flooding,\" Emil said.<\/p>\n
In a related development, Minister of Research and Technology
\nHatta Rajasa said the government would try to artificially modify
\nthe weather so as to reduce the amount of rain falling on Jakarta
\nand its surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
\"Through such modification, the Cumulus clouds above the
\ncapital city will be driven further away,\" he said, adding that a
\nsimilar modification program had been successfully undertaken
\npreviously in Semarang, Central Java, and had managed to reduce
\nrainfall by 30 percent.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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