Flood produces sinking feeling for Bekasi traders

Flood produces sinking feeling for Bekasi traders

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

It was far from business as usual at Mal Mega Bekasi shopping
complex on Tuesday, with floodwater inundating the center since
early Sunday.

Floodwater on the ground floor was still up to one meter deep.

One of the 600 traders in the mall, Alay, 45, said the 2.5-
meter-deep flood on Sunday had destroyed his merchandise --
mostly electronic goods.

The traders, he said, were demanding that the building
management company, PT Karsindo Utama, pay them compensation.

"It is stated in our contracts that the ground floor will not
be affected by the annual flooding in Bekasi," he was quoted as
saying by Antara.

On Tuesday, municipality pump trucks were still pumping out
water from around the mall.

Meanwhile, the building management announced that the mall,
the biggest in Bekasi, would be closed indefinitely.

PT Karsindo director Gunarso said he hoped that people would
understand that the flood was an act of God.

"However, we are responsible and will pay them compensation
after we calculate the extent of the losses," he said.

Sunday's flood, considered the biggest ever in the
municipality and upstream areas, not only hit the shopping mall,
which is located at the Bekasi Barat toll gate -- alongside Giant
hypermarket, Metropolitan Mall I and II, the Ramayana and Hero
department stores, and the Horison Hotel -- but also residential
areas.

People living in the Jaka Kencana housing complex in Pekayon
demanded that the administration fix the levees lining the Bekasi
and Cikeas rivers, whose poor condition they said contributed to
the huge flood, besides the fact that continuous heavy rain fell
for over 10 hours starting on Saturday.

"These embankments were built two years ago but now they are
badly cracked ... We have frequently told the administration to
fix them, but our pleas always fell on deaf ears," Mustafa, a
local resident, was quoted as saying by Tempointeraktif.com.

"We don't want to have another huge flood like Sunday's," he
added.