Flood returns, victims back again to temporary shelters

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.