Administration ready to anticipate floods
Administration ready to anticipate floods
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration claimed on Tuesday that it had made
comprehensive preparations in anticipation of flooding expected
to hit the capital this month, in particular flood relief and
medical care.
City secretary Ritola Sasmaya stressed that the plan included
preparing command posts and temporary shelters for possible
victims who would be forced to flee their houses if they are
inundated by floodwaters.
"We have studied the weaknesses related to what we had
implemented during last year's flood, and we have created a
system to help people during the next floods," said Ritola at a
coordinating meeting to prepare for the floods.
The meeting was attended by Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare Yusuf Kalla, settlement and regional infrastructure
minister Soenarno, social affairs minister Bachtiar Chamsyah,
Governor Sutiyoso, and representatives from Banten and West Java
provinces.
He said that the city administration had also set up a crisis
center chaired by Governor Sutiyoso, while public order and
people's protection agency head Firman Hutajulu would be in
charge of daily operations.
According to Ritola, the city administration has appointed 60
people to be on duty at the crisis centers both at the provincial
and municipal levels. They will have 24-hour hotlines to receive
calls from flood victims.
In addition, as many as 72 members of the flood task force
will be deployed in the five municipalities to monitor the
flooded locations and provide assistance to the victims.
Minister Kalla said that the preparations were good on paper,
but it remained to be seen if they would be helpful to flood
victims.
Previously, the administration had revealed that it allocated
Rp 2 billion to give free health services to the flood victims,
including those who needed hospitalization.
The administration had also asked 101 hospitals in the city to
give free treatment for the victims, saying that they could
reimburse the bills with the administration later.
A number of hospitals have expressed their readiness to admit
patients as long as they have a referral from a doctor at the
flood health post. But it is likely that problems would still
exist, particularly due to lack of information and the
availability of doctors to give a referral letter to the
hospitals.
Last year, many people complained that it was difficult to
obtain a referral letter from the doctors as there were no
doctors at the health posts.
Responding to the problems, Chalik Masulili said on Tuesday
that the referral would not be necessary in an emergency.
"At a time when floods hit the city, such a requirement would
not be necessary. We will inform the hospitals about it," Chalik
told The Jakarta Post. Meanwhile, hospitals have not been
informed yet of the change in procedure.
The General Hospital of the Indonesian Christian University's
Medical School (RSU FK UKI) in Cawang, East Jakarta had issued
guidelines for accepting flood victims, that requires patients to
bring a referral letter from a flood health post doctor.
"If there are flood victims who come to the hospital, they may
be served provided they have a referral from the flood health
post's doctor," stated the letter, which was addressed to the
head of the emergency unit with copies given to hospital
officials.