Flood returns, victims back again to temporary shelters

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of Jakarta's flood victims, and in particular those living on the banks of Ciliwung River, were given no respite on Wednesday as floods returned to swamp their houses.

The distressed, hopeless and exhausted faces of the victims said it all.

"When will the floodwaters recede? Can it get any worse than this?," Hayati, a mother of three, murmured hopelessly, in a shelter near Kampung Melayu bus terminal, East Jakarta, where flooding persisted on Wednesday.

Hayati is among the victims living in the capital's worst-hit subdistricts of Bukit Duri and Kampung Melayu Besar in South Jakarta and Cawang, Jatinegara in East Jakarta.

While many sought temporary shelter at nearby schools and mosques, some insisted on staying at their flooded homes.

Didin, a resident of Jl. Masjid, Kampung Melayu Besar, admitted that his family were still occupying the second floor of their house.

"My family and I only took refugee when the water level reached the roof of our house last week," said Didin, who is also the neighborhood unit chief, adding that many of his neighbors had fled to other places.

Didin said he had distributed donations, mostly food, to residents who were either staying at their homes or nearby mosques.

In Bukit Duri, hundreds of flood victims also returned to the subdistrict office due to the renewed surge of floodwaters, which had caught many while they were still busy cleaning up after the damage caused by earlier flooding.

Last Friday, they had also started to clean their houses but the floodwaters returned the following day, forcing them to take shelter in the subdistrict office.

Early this week, the victims, some of whom had been sheltering in the office for more than 15 days, started to clean their houses again, only to find their efforts disrupted again by Wednesday's floods.

The displaced slept on floor mats at the office and a public kitchen was also set up, serving mainly instant noodles.

Water started to creep into their houses again in the morning and reached depths of between 30 centimeters and one meter by the afternoon.

Many feared the worst as the water level in some places continued to rise. At Manggarai floodgate in South Jakarta, the water level reached 9.2 meters at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, satunet.com reported.

According to the Jakarta Public Works Agency, only if the water level there reached 8 meters, would there be cause for serious concern. When the worst of the recent flooding hit the city last week, the level had reached 9.6 meters.

Although the water level at Manggarai had increased, the water level at Depok floodgate, which is also on Ciliwung River, started to decrease from 3 meters in the morning to 1.75 meters in the evening.

Motorists felt the knock-on effects, as traffic jams occurred along almost all of the city's major thoroughfares, including Jl. Gatot Subroto, Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Sisingamangaraja.

In a related issue, city councillors grilled Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso in a hearing at the city council on Wednesday.

But the council's hearing was considered irrelevant as the House of Representatives had already grilled Sutiyoso last week.

It was initially closed for journalists, triggering suspicions of backroom deals.

Only after being telephoned by journalists was the hearing opened to the media. The hearing turned out to be less fierce than expected.