5,000 residents stay put in floods

5,000 residents stay put in floods

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Unbuttoning his short-sleeved shirt, Arman rushes to a nearby
pond where four of his friends splash about with a ball. Without
hesitation, the 12-year-old boy throws off his clothes and
plunges into the dark brownish-green colored water.

This pond is far from safe. Full of garbage and sewage, it
covers a 50 meter by 70 meter field where people used to play
volleyball and football most afternoons.

The Kamal Malang village has been flooded by foot-deep water
since November because of a damaged drainage system. A stench
from the decaying refuse floating on the surface greets all who
come to the area and residents say diseases and skin infections
are now commonplace among the 5,000 people living in the village.

"Diarrhea, dengue fever and skin ailments are nothing new for
me and the other residents here," Yeti, 34, a housewife, told The
Jakarta Post.

The mother of four said lack of fresh water was a big problem
faced by residents because the floods had contaminated the
groundwater in local wells.

Yati said she and other housewives bought at least 7 liters of
clean water a day from vendors, priced at about Rp 850 a liter.

"We use clean water only for cooking, drinking and washing
household appliances. For bathing and for using the toilet we
have to share public bathrooms with residents of Kamal Muara
village," she said.

The two villages lie side by side in North Jakarta, separated
only by an unused waterway that has long been dry and is now
clogged with mud and garbage.

Although the villages are neighbors, they are very different.
The sidewalks heading to Kamal Muara from Jl. Raya Dadap are made
of concrete, while residents in Kamal Malang have constructed
floating sidewalks made of wood.

Marzuki, chief of neighborhood unit (RT) I, said the water had
been in the village since the Idul Fitri holidays last year.

"Flood waters have remained about a foot high since November,
and they can reach more than a meter if it rains," he said.

He said the 6 hectare village had never received assistance
from the local administration.

"Maybe, it is because this coastal village is not visible from
the main street. We have repeatedly asked village officials to
build drainage systems but to no avail," he said.

While many exasperated villagers had decided to leave their
fate to God, the problem had not improved and they could not
carry on their normal lives, he said.

Kurtubi Su'ud, chairman of the Tangerang regency council
commission D in charge of development blamed the suffering of the
residents on the carelessness of the Tangerang administration.

"Floodwaters in a village for five months is evidence of very
bad drainage system planning by the regional public works
agency," he said.

However, Hermansyah, the head of the regency's public works
agency said while the administration had allocated Rp 60 billion
to repair damaged drainage systems in six districts across the
regency, it had not allocated a single cent to the Kamal Malang
village.

"I will propose to the administration to allocate a budget to
repair waterways in Kamal Malang from the administration's
additional costs budget," he said.