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

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.