City misses target in dealing with flood trauma

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The three weeks of flooding across the city has caused many to suffer not only physically but mentally as well. Some victims in a temporary shelter on Jl. Dewi Sartika, East Jakarta, even refused to return home although the water began to recede.

"No! I don't want to go back to my house," Tinah yelled when met at the shelter. She refused to say further but only hugged her 10-month-old son desperately.

Her neighbors, who are also at the shelter, said Tinah had been depressed with the current condition as her family was trapped by the floods before being evacuated to the shelter two weeks ago.

Tinah had to struggle with her son to reach her roof as her husband was working in Tangerang -- which is around 50 kilometers from the house at Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta -- when the water began to rise. They had to stay there for three hours in the middle of the night.

Most evacuees at the shelter also refused to return home.

"If I return home, I'm afraid the flood will come again," said Evita, a resident of Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

Evita and her family have been staying in the shelter for almost three weeks. The mother of three has gone home three times during the floods to clean the house and furniture. Her children have begun studying at their schools.

"I want my normal life back," her 10-year-old son, Dedi, complained, adding that he wanted to sleep in his room again.

Other victims expressed their frustration over the prolonged flood.

"Of course I'm angry! I cleaned my house and all the furniture for three days when suddenly the floods returned. I don't know who to blame," Miana grumbled.

She admitted she became more irritable after the floods.

"Staying in the shelter with hundreds of people is definitely uncomfortable," she said.

The victims' mental condition gave a new idea to Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, so on Friday he announced that the City Social Agency would provide psychiatrists and psychologists for them.

"The prolonged floods have distressed them. We hope by providing specialists it will help relieve the stress," he told reporters at City Hall.

However, the idea was criticized by experts and activists, saying it was not a priority at this time.

Noted psychologist Sartono Mukadis asserted that the idea was merely a reactive attempt to cover the administration's tardy performance in response to the floods.

"What will the victims expect from psychologists if the source of their disappointment is the administration?" he told The Jakarta Post.

"Their expectation is the administration's form of apology. The administration should have been able to cater to the needs of the victims."

Sartono admitted that the victims were traumatized by the floods but he believed they would recover soon.

"If the administration failed to support the victims, I'm afraid they would not respect their leaders. Vandalism could increase afterward."

Head of the Urban Division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Tubagus Haryo Karbiyanto, slammed the administration for having no "sense of crisis" toward the victims.

"The victims need food, clothes, appropriate shelter and a guarantee to resume working," he added.

He said the victims' stress would vanish if the administration provided for their physical needs and guaranteed to help them after the flood receded.

Tubagus said the administration had failed to provide a contingency plan to overcome the disaster.

"It has so many officers in charge of the disaster. But they failed to perform during the floods. Now, they only react to what has happened."