Aid for flood victims decreases
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.