Aid to fire victims limited to three days

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As if losing their homes was not enough, fire victims in Jelambar Baru subdistrict, West Jakarta, will only be provided with shelter in temporary tents for three days.

"The tents were set up by the West Jakarta Social Affairs Agency and will only be here for three days. We don't know what to do after that," said the community unit leader, Halimi, on Saturday.

Officers from the agency and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) said that normally temporary shelter was only provided to fire victims for three days. After the three days were up, the municipal administration would then have to decide on whether to extend the period.

Three tents, one of which is being used as a crisis center, were erected by the agency and the PMI after a fire razed at least 290 homes in the area on Friday at about 2:30 p.m. More than 2,000 people were left homeless by the blaze.

However, the tents can only accommodated a limited number of victims. Most of them have had to set up their own temporary shelters along the Grogol river using sticks draped with various kinds of protective materials.

On Saturday morning, the situation in the tents was chaotic as many people were still in shock from the fire.

Men were shouting, calling for people in the neighborhood to help them clean up the debris of their burned homes. Women were trying to calm their children as they cried for food.

"They haven't eaten anything this morning," said Suwarti, 52, pointing to her youngest son. The mother of four lost her home but managed to save her children.

An officer from the agency, Ibu Darno, said that the victims had yet to get breakfast due to a lack of volunteers and money. The volunteers had left the scene early on Saturday at around 2:30 a.m., and arrived back at 9 a.m.

"We can only provide them with two meals a day -- lunch and dinner. We don't have enough volunteers or money," she said, adding that she was hoping for donations from the public.

So far, the agency has provided 600 kilograms of rice, 30 boxes of instant noodles, 12 boxes of cooking oil, and mats and cooking utensils.

"We can only cook rice and noodles for them. There's not enough money to buy meat or vegetables. We hope individual or group donors will help provide these as the victims need nutritious food," Ibu Darno told The Jakarta Post.

The victims are in dire need of food, clothing and clean water.

"We haven't had a bath since last night as there's no water, let alone clean water, available," said Siti Bariah, one of the victims who lost all her worldly possessions but luckily managed to save herself and her children from the blaze.

The PMI also provided aid to the victims with more than 10 volunteers handing out emergency medicine and clothes.

"It's very kind of them (the social affairs office and the PMI) to help us with food and water. However, we really need places to live. We can always find our own food," said another victim, Aci.

The victims are still in the dark as to what will happen to them on Monday as officials from the municipality have said nothing about what will become of their former homes.