Flood victims complain about lack of aid

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

During their three days in an emergency shelter, at least Muhammad Jaya and his family had enough to eat, even if the quality of the food left at lot to be desired.

It was when leaving the shelter to go back home to the flood- prone Kampung Melayu area, East Jakarta, however, that his problems really started -- he found himself out on the street with only three packages of instant noodles with which to feed himself, his wife and four children.

"All of the food aid must have gone to Aceh," said Muhammad, referring to the tsunami-hit province. "Things are real tough as I have not worked in a week."

Muhammad is one of the more than 20,000 Jakartans who were forced to flee their homes because of last week's flooding, at least 9,700 of whom are from Kampung Melayu, the worst affected area traversed as it is by the Ciliwung River.

As of Monday afternoon, 914 people were still staying in shelters, while the remainder had returned home, most without sufficient food supplies.

Like Muhammad, many other flood victims have been complaining about the lack of food aid they received in the shelters compared to previous years.

"We either ate chicken or meat everyday in 2002, and were given clothes, cleaning utensils and even stoves," said Bari, who is still sheltering in the Santa Maria school. "This time it was only rice and salted fish."

Subdistrict head Lutfi Kamal conceded that the public focus on tsunami-wrecked Aceh might have had an impact on the quality of aid received by his subdistrict compared to the last major floods in 2002.

However, he insisted that the food given to the evacuees was adequate and denied there were any shortages.

"There is no shortage of aid ... but we are always open to more donations. If they want better food, they should go to a restaurant, not a shelter," he remarked.

"In 2002, a small number of neighborhoods received the bulk of the supplies, causing some resentment among residents," explained Kamal. "This time we have managed it better."

One of Kamal's officials, who requested anonymity, offered another explanation as to why the quality and quantity of the supplies were worse this time around.

"Last time, a lot of political parties set up shelters and distributed aid to win over the voters," he said. "This time, however, they were asked to coordinate with us. Most of them refused."

The subdistrict has so far only received Rp 10 million (US$1,123) from the city administration to deal with the aftermath of the floods, while various city agencies have been directly involved in providing aid.

"Most of the aid has come from private donations, however," said Kamal. "You can imagine how many Rp 500-cups of mineral water we can buy with that money (from the city administration) -- after all, we have 10,000 evacuees."