City poorly prepared to tackle flood problem

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A non-governmental organization criticized on Tuesday the city administration's apparent lack of preparation to help flood victims in anticipation of heavy rains this monsoon season.

"During two days of flooding last week, no official from the administration warned residents of the danger of floods," Debbie Prabawati of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) told The Jakarta Post.

Besides the absence of an official warning, Debbie said residents did not receive enough help, such as rafts to evacuate them from their flooded homes and adequate food supplies.

She revealed that the public received incorrect information from officials, who announced that there would be a massive flood last Saturday.

"On that day (Saturday), many residents opted to stay home because of the (false) information, but there was no such flood on Saturday," Debbie said.

Members of Fakta include hundreds of residents living in 20 flood-prone areas in the city.

Representatives of concerned residents held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss anticipatory measures to be taken in case of floods in the near future and the administration's lack of preparation.

Last year, the residents, accompanied by Fakta and several other non-governmental organizations, filed a class action lawsuit against the President, the West Java governor and the Jakarta governor for their alleged lack of action to help residents during the massive floods in February 2002.

But the Central Jakarta District Court rejected the lawsuit in November last year, saying that the residents should sue the mayors and not the three defendants, since they had no direct legal obligation in the matter.

Debbie revealed on Tuesday that the residents had appealed the court's decision with the Jakarta High Court.

"We will add the current condition (of the city's lack of preparation) in our appeal," she said.

Following last week's flooding, City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya, who is also chief of the city flood disaster support agency, said last Wednesday that the administration had prepared 301 shelters in the city's five municipalities to house the displaced in the event of flood.

Ritola said the administration would also provide 176 communal kitchens, 163 trucks, 68 ambulances and four helicopters to help flood victims.

During last Wednesday's meeting with Ritola and the city's five mayors, Governor Sutiyoso admitted that his officials had failed to warn the public.

"I regret that information about flooding on Monday and Tuesday did not reach residents," Sutiyoso said at the meeting.

Separately, city spokesman Muhayat said on Tuesday that equipment to help flood victims, including rafts, had been placed at subdistrict offices in flood-prone areas.

"We have distributed equipment to areas frequently hit by flood," Muhayat told the Post.

He said the administration had yet to allocate special funds to help people displaced by flood, adding that the funds would be provided by city agencies.

Last year's massive floods inundated 176 subdistricts, claimed 34 lives and displaced 384,294 people.

Excluding helicopters, the administration also provided a similar number of trucks, ambulances, rafts, communal kitchens and shelters last year.