Flood victims clean up under the sun

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The sun finally showed on Saturday after days of heavy rain and saw water recede from flood victims' homes.

People who had moved to temporary shelters started to return home, although those whose houses were still inundated remained.

In Semanan subdistrict, West Jakarta, residents were seen braving waist-deep water to check on their houses and collect some belongings, particularly clothes.

Then they returned to a nearby mosque, housing complex or the railway tracks to wait for their neighborhood to dry out.

On Friday, the water was around two meters high in some places and some residents used styrofoam rafts to move around.

"I can dry my clothes, which were immersed for several days, along the railway fence," said Henri, who said he had not be able to bathe or change clothes for three days.

In Kampung Melayu subdistrict, East Jakarta, hundreds of residents left the shelter of St. Maria Church and returned to their homes.

"Thank God it's not raining today, and the water has receded," said resident Atmi, who was busy removing pools of water and mud from her house.

Others also cleaned up their houses and checked their belongings, which they had stored in the ceilings of their homes before floodwater submerged the area.

Other residents sat outside their homes, tending to their soaking wet clothes, mattresses and furniture placed along the alleys to dry out.

The alleys were blanketed with mud and litter from the nearby Ciliwung River, which burst its banks.

Several passersby carefully picked their way through the alleys, taking care not to slip in the mud or fall in the gutters.

Ropes used to guide people when leaving their flooded homes remained strung from one house to another.

Herman, a resident sitting outside his house with his friend Yanto, said most people preferred to stay outside their houses as it was humid indoors.

They all opened doors and windows wide to improve air circulation.

"It's always the same after flooding. The air inside the house is humid and stinks," Herman said.

He added that some residents were considering returning to the shelters on Saturday night due to the situation.

But no matter how fed up the residents are with floods and being forced to leave their homes, they cannot do a thing about them and are more or less resigned to the annual occurrence.

Herman said that living in temporary shelters was inconvenient not because of the conditions but because of all the media attention.

"We are bored with being in the media spotlight and still nothing significant is done to stop our homes being flooded," he said.

Yanto demanded that the municipality manage the sluice gates better and not suddenly open them when the water level rose during heavy rain.

"Maybe the authorities bow to the request of the wealthy upstream, who would be humiliated if the sluice gates overflowed and flooded their estates," he said with a mischievous smile.