After the blame game the govt must reach out, help to rebuild lives

Sri Pamoedjo Rahardjo, Lecturer, School of Economics, University of Indonesia, Depok, West Java

Recent heavy rains have triggered huge floods throughout the country. The floods affected Jakarta residents indiscriminately, both the haves and the have nots. Blaming the government of Jakarta alone including its local legislature is unfair because there are so many contributing factors affecting the floods. Finding fault with the New Order regime is becoming a broken record. Blaming the national government is also not really fair considering the current local autonomy scheme.

Indiscriminate building and the use of catchment areas have begun a long time ago and countless officials, developers and illegal loggers have been involved over the years.

As early as late last year, the weather bureau had issued warnings to the general public about the possibility of above average rainfall in Java. Both the government and the residents of Jakarta did not bother to make effective preparations in response to the warning. When the waters began to rise, immediate government assistance was not felt and the public began to vent their anger at the unpopular governor.

In response, Governor Sutiyoso claimed that his government had made preparations. The floods were simply beyond his control as the governor of Jakarta. While his claims may be partially true, evidence of the administration's preparations was not seen. During the now famous downpour of Friday, Feb. 1 absence of support from the Jakarta administration resulted in extensive traffic jams and thousands of commuters were stranded all night long.

What went wrong? This slow response could have been due to the absence of early detection of possible threats that are usually communicated by the now defunct deputized Babinsa (army sergeants) in their designated areas. In addition, many of the neighborhood units are not functioning.

There would have been total chaos if not for the good Samaritans in the form of private individuals and groups who immediately came to the scene. The garbage cart pushers became both the heroes and lucky entrepreneurs of the day! Now everyone is washing their hands and point the blame elsewhere. An easy cop out is the claim that the administration lacks funds and equipment in carrying out these tasks.

The national and local government should learn how other countries that are often besieged with natural disasters manage their resources; how monitoring and solid coordination can be done across the respective local governments.

In other countries with established disaster procedures, the public has learned to abide by the government's weather announcement. Weather advisories are issued regularly. When a typhoon or cyclone is detected, the bureau will release the position of the storm and estimate when and where the storm will hit. The areas covered will have different levels of warning along the path of the storm. This will allow people who are likely to be affected to be on alert. Different agencies like the media, schools, medical services, electric power, telephone company, fire department, police and the armed forces are involved.

In contrast, while Indonesia also has warning terms like Siaga Satu, (top alert) hardly anyone really know what it means. The signs are only meant for the government apparatus. The public remains unaware about their responsibility as citizens during an impending disaster. Announcements from the weather bureau are not automatically taken seriously. During the week of floods in Jakarta, residents were still seen going out as usual and exposing themselves to danger.

It is imperative that the warnings must be reviewed and introduced to all agencies and that the citizens begin to take them seriously. If they know it to be accurate, hence their respective offices or schools will abide by it through the appropriate suspension of activities in relation to the severity of the situation.

Absence of such government preparation has led to widespread anger. The other cause of people's anger was the unnecessary loss of property. While floods could not be stopped, additional losses could have been prevented if subdistrict offices deployed their officers to make area patrols. They could conduct house-to-house campaigns to remind residents of the upcoming floods and to prepare for evacuation. This will help residents prepare and store their valuables safely. With an assurance that their respective areas will be patrolled and safe from burglaries, people would not hesitate to leave the area for their own safety.

Their anger could have been tempered if the provincial government introduced some preventive measures. Many residents know that gutters, canals, and rivers have become shallow because of silting and build up of garbage. The respective local governments could have initiated a campaign to involve residents in cleaning up Jakarta's drainage system from household waste as a moral commitment. Local communities can organize a neighborhood effort to clean clogged waterways.

Traffic snarls could also have been reduced if the government introduced selective closure of schools and offices in anticipation of floods in the most vulnerable areas. The selective closure can also help reduce parents' anxiety about their children who are out there exposed to physical dangers and health risks.

It is now a useless exercise to bicker over who is at fault, but the immediate task is to help rebuild damaged infrastructure and help affected residents recover from the floods. While the very poor need assistance, other productive citizens have been affected as well. If the latter are not provided the means to get back to their small businesses, the numbers of unemployed will increase. This time, the floods had hit families living under better socio-economic conditions. They sought safety on their own initiative and took shelter with friends and neighbors. They are overlooked as they are not registered at shelter sites.

Hence, the government through the neighborhood units should immediately make a proactive house-to-house survey to develop an accurate picture of the loss of property and livelihood, loss of documents, health problems and even life. This proactive approach will reduce the anxiety of affected residents.

The government can introduce a recovery scheme through financial institutions offering low interest bank loans for the affected residents for rebuilding small businesses and renovating properties.

It has to ensure that funds generated and allocated for flood victims must be spent for that purpose down to the last cent and not used by unscrupulous intermediaries. With regard to the loss of important documents, the local government should introduce free services to obtain certificates of loss and replacement copies for important lost or damaged documents such as identity cards, bank accounts, birth certificates, diplomas, insurance documents, and others.

In conclusion, to change their poor image of being unprepared, the government should now help in effective recovery, not merely by food and material dole-outs, but to help people get back to their respective livelihood activities as quickly as possible.