A year of grief for Bahorok flood victims

A year of grief for Bahorok flood victims

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

Adi has been living in a shelter with 350 families in the
compound of Bukit Lawang public bus terminal since the Bahorok
flood last year.

Adi, 38, has to make do with the four-by-four-meter room that
has been allocated to each family. There is no furniture and the
quietness of the empty room often makes him cry when he thinks
about what has happened since the flood. The deep yearning for
his wife and two children who perished in the flash flood on Nov.
2, last year, is still fresh in his mind. The flash flood left
more than 180 people dead and 80 missing.

"I often reminisce in this room, thinking of my family.
Everything has changed so quickly, and now I am alone," said Adi,
who owned a modest hotel in Bukit Lawang before the tragedy.

Now, he is a motorized pedicab driver and depends on tourists
for a livelihood. His income is usually not enough to fulfill his
needs.

Adi said that even though the Bukit Lawang tourist area had
been reopened to the public, the number of visitors was almost
nil.

"The earnings from being a pedicab driver is not reliable. I
still owe rent on the pedicab," Adi told The Jakarta Post at the
shelter recently.

Tour guides are also feeling the slump in the number of
tourists since the flood.

Fandi, 24, a flood victim working as a tour guide, said that
earnings from tourists had not returned to normal. Before the
flood, he could earn Rp 100,000 (US$11.00) per day, but now only
gets Rp 15,000 per day, depending on the number of tourists
visiting the area.

Besides residents' poor financial standing, Ramadhan
activities such as breaking of the fast gatherings are no longer
seen. Before the flood, breaking the fast en masse in the small
mosque in Bukit Lawang was common.

"Weekly, daily and tarawih (evening prayers) are still held at
the mosque, but we rarely break the fast together there. To break
the fast separately is difficult due to a lack of money, let
alone in a group," said Caca, 38, a flood victim now delegated by
residents to arrange matters on victims' housing.

Caca said that almost all flood victims who stayed at the
shelter had financial problems.

Most are also unable to send their children to school.

"There are dozens of children here who have been forced to
drop out of school as their parents can't afford to pay their
tuition," said Caca, adding that he hoped the local
administration would help.

Caca said that residents were waiting for new housing promised
by the provincial administration, which was promised several days
after the tragedy.

The central government provided Rp 25 billion in assistance to
the provincial administration to build new housing, which was
disbursed five months ago.

"We're bewildered. Where did all the money go?" said Caca.

Langkat Regent Syamsul Arifin said the regental administration
had tried to alleviate the hardships faced by the flood victims
by reopening the tourist site. "I know they are still facing
difficulties. We have tried to help, but to no avail," Syamsul
told the Post on Monday at the North Sumatra governor's office
during a meeting between the governor, and regental and mayoralty
heads.

Syamsul said a team from the provincial administration was
doing a feasibility study on land belonging to state plantation
company PT Perkebunan Nusantara II, on which the housing will be
built.

"I assure you that the construction of the housing will start
next month," said Syamsul.