Fire victims left with no hot meals

Fire victims left with no hot meals

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fire victims in Jelambar Baru subdistrict, West Jakarta, are in
dire need of a public kitchen after the Indonesian Red Cross
(PMI) ended its assistance for the people on Monday afternoon.

Community leader Halimi said on Monday that a meeting on
Sunday evening between subdistrict officers and community leaders
concluded that the fire victims could use tents provided by the
West Jakarta Social Affairs Agency for an indefinite period.

"But the PMI will only stay and provide us cooking utensils
through lunch time (on Monday)," he said.

A PMI coordinator, Novel, confirmed that the PMI would stay
only through Monday afternoon.

"But if the municipality administration wants us to stay
longer, they can simply send us an official letter asking for an
extension," he said.

Officers from the social affairs agency were seen distributing
rice and instant noodles to the victims on Monday. However, most
of the 290 families who lost their homes in a fire last Friday
have no cooking utensils.

"We hope people in the neighborhood can help by providing
cooking utensils such as stoves, bowls, plates, spoons and
forks," Halimi said. "Otherwise, we can't cook the distributed
food."

To fill the void left by the PMI, Suara Metro 911 radio
station, in cooperation with the Obor Berkat Foundation, will
host free medical examinations on Tuesday.

"We'll provide free medical treatment and medicine for those
victims in need of them. For now, this is only scheduled for one
day. If the number of people is huge, we'll probably extend the
program," Abdillah, a Suara Metro 911 volunteer, told The Jakarta
Post.

A political party has established a crisis center where people
can drop off food, clothing or money for the victims.

Fire destroyed at least 290 houses on Jl. Jelambar Jaya 3 and
Jl. Jelambar Jaya 4 in Jelambar Baru subdistrict, West Jakarta,
last Friday afternoon, leaving more than 2,000 people homeless.