Flood victims ask for promised aid
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Deriati Rangkuti, a victim of the Bahorok flash flood, has been living for two years in a refugee shelter near the Bahorok area. Day by day, she waits for the government to keep their promises to rehabilitate Bahorok area and to build her a house, but the promises have turned out to be empty.
With no certainty that the government will build the houses they as earlier promised, the 60-year-old woman has begun to get concerned. Her future is uncertain. She desperately needs a house as sanitation in the displaced persons shelter, which is inhabited by some 80 families, has become increasingly bad. Aid supplies from the government and donors have also been dwindling, adding to Deriati's misery.
The tough life has forced many families to leave. Initially, the shelter was inhabited by 400 families, but now there are only 80 families left, including Deriati's family.
"Some families went to live with their relatives, the others, I don't know," said Deriati as she was taking part in a protest in front of the North Sumatra council building on Tuesday. At the protest, some 100 victims of the Bahorok flash flood, including Deriati, demanded that the government rehabilitate the flood- affected area and build houses for the victims of the flood.
If the government did not build houses very soon, there is concern that people living in the shelter will start falling sick as sanitation facilities are damaged because of overuse and poor maintenance.
According to Saul Panggabean, a representative of the Bahorok victims, said that he had discovered corrupt practices in the rebuilding of Bahorok victim's houses.
There should have been 354 houses, according to a government blueprint for the reconstruction of Bahorok area, but to date only 200 houses have been built.
Saul also questioned the amount of funds used to build each house. He said that one house should cost Rp 18 million (US$1,900), but according to findings in the field, construction costs where only for the state were only Rp 8 million.
"We conclude that there has been corruption taking place. Government officials should have helped us, but instead they have robbed us," said Saul.
According to a government report, the central government has poured some Rp 25 billion in funds, and other Rp 50 billion had been spent by the Langkat regental government to rebuild Bahorok area and Lawang Hill that had been destroyed by the flash flood, but there is no clear outcome of the projects.
"We have demanded that concerned parties conduct an audit in order to make sure that the state money was used properly," said Saul.
Responding to the claims, secretary of Langkat regental government Masri Zein said that technical reasons were behind the sluggish reconstruction of the Bahorok and Bukit Lawang area.
Masri admitted that the central government had handed over funds amounting to Rp 25 billion, but when he was asked whether a portion of the funds had been embezzled by government officials, he gave an assurance that no corruption had occurred in the project.
The Bahorok flash flood hit the area some two years ago, killing over 200 people. The area, which once attracted foreigners due to the presence of orang utan in the area, was mostly destroyed.