Aid for flood victims decreases
Ahmad Junaidi The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The return of the floods have made flood victims increasingly worried specially as they are still in desperate need of food, medicine and clothing. Unfortunately, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso revealed on Thursday that the stock of these three items had began to decrease following the inundation.
"The floods have lasted longer than what we had anticipated," said the governor, who has been under sharp criticism due to his administration's tardy response to the crisis.
Sutiyoso announced the administration would hold a charity night for flood victims in the near future at Ancol recreation park in North Jakarta.
Private businessmen and executives of city-owned firms are in the guest list for the event which will also feature local artists including top dangdut singer Evie Tamala.
Despite Sutiyoso's statement on the decreasing stock, City Hall has been showered with donations from the public every single day since the water began to inundate most areas in the capital on Jan. 28.
A Rp 1 billion (US$98,000) donation from the Ministry of Social Affairs has been used to buy clothes, blankets and food for the victims. Other donations from private firms were distributed last week.
The administration announced on Wednesday that it would donate Rp 50 million to each of the 167 flood-hit subdistricts. The Rp 8.35 billion fund, which was supposed to be given to the victims, was taken from the City Budget reserve fund of Rp 40 billion.
It also plans to use its Rp 505 billion emergency fund to repair public facilities, including roads and schools, which were severely damaged by the inundation. However, the administration must still wait for the City Council's approval to use the budget.
In the meantime, lines of trucks carrying aid for the victims are rarely in sight.
The governor admitted that the public and other institutions have donated directly to the victims without informing the administration.
"They should have coordinated with us to avoid concentration of donations since we know the exact location of the victims," Sutiyoso claimed, urging the public to keep on donating.
Most donors opted to hand over their aid directly to the victims, temporary shelters or flood monitoring posts due to their lack of trust in the administration. Most victims had reportedly not yet received help from the administration.
Ade Rostina, an activist of Suara Ibu Peduli (Voice of Concerned Mothers), said the organization began to stop emergency food aid two days ago but had to begin all over again.
"The returning floods forced us to provide food to the victims as their houses began to be inundated again," she said.
Two days prior to the current floods, the organization had given books and uniforms to school students, medicine for the sick and pots and stoves for households.
Ade was optimistic that Suara Ibu Peduli could still help the victims for quite a long time.
"I can't estimate the period but there are many individual donors who come to us to provide goods for distribution," she said. "Unfortunately, we can't help victims all over Jakarta due to the limited stock and volunteers. So far, we have helped victims in Cilandak and Pondok Labu in South Jakarta, Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, Cengkareng in West Jakarta and Depok.
Several countries have also given aid for flood victims including the United States, England, Australia, Canada and China. The Federal Republic of Germany said its embassy in Jakarta would also hand over 145,627 euros (Rp 1.24 billion) to the victims in Karet Tengsin, Central Jakarta, on Friday.
Around 380,000 residents were evacuated when the floods reached calamitous levels two weeks ago. Many of the refugees opted to stay at the shelters and were reluctant to return home since their houses were still flooded.