City to pay for damage caused by uprooted trees

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Depok

Governor Sutiyoso affirmed on Saturday that his office would plant trees as soon as possible to replace those destroyed in tropical storm Linda which hit the city on Friday. He also said residents would be given an "acceptable amount of money" for the damage caused by the storm.

"I am concerned by the incident last Friday in which many trees fell on houses, cars and roads. It was a disaster. But we can't offer full compensation. It's impossible to replace a damaged BMW with a new one," he said.

Sutiyoso was speaking on the sidelines of the planting ceremony of 2,500 teak seedlings at the Depok campus of the University of Indonesia during the Let's Green Our Home campaign, organized by the university's School of Communications and the Sedaun Foundation, an environmental organization.

Separately on Saturday, Jakarta Park Agency head Sarwo Handhayani said the administration would provide a maximum of Rp 10 million (US$1,190) in compensation.

"The residents are invited to claim compensation (their cases) will be assessed by insurance company Askrida, a partner of the agency," she said.

The violent storm flooded streets and uprooted hundreds of trees -- about 300 in South Jakarta alone -- causing massive traffic jams throughout the city and disrupting rail service until late in the night.

Trees fell on houses in Kebayoran Baru area, including the house owned by the family of the late Yoga Sugama, former chief of the National Intelligence Agency. The family estimated that they had suffered Rp 200 million (US$23,810) in damages to their house and a Mercedes-Benz E320.

Most of the toppled trees were angsana which were planted in the 1980s as part of efforts to green the capital.

According to head of the South Jakarta Park Agency, Harun Alrasyid, there were about 5,000 trees growing along main thoroughfares which were prone to falling during heavy rain.

He told Tempointeraktif, that canary trees, banyan, palms, khaya and poinciana trees were also vulnerable.

He claimed that his office had replaced 50 trees in South Jakarta, which had fallen during the period of heavy rain from November to January, with 1,000 new trees.

However, he stressed, residents were prohibited from cutting down trees without approval from the city administration.

On Sunday, workers from the city park and sanitation agencies were seen clearing toppled trees and branches in South Jakarta and across the city.

According to Handhayani, logs will be taken to the seedling unit of the park agency in Srengseng, West Jakarta. The leaves will be used as compost, she added, while residents are allowed to take branches home.

She expected that the streets would be clear of debris by Tuesday, the first day of work after Idul Adha, or the Islamic Day of Sacrifice.