Flood victims face food, clean water shortages

Flood victims face food, clean water shortages

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Over 30,000 flood victims in Dayeuhkolot and Baleendah districts
in South Bandung regency were on Tuesday trying to cope with food
and clean water shortages after fleeing their homes in the wake
of freak floods over the weekend.

With less rain on Monday, the floodwaters, said to be the
worst in over a decade, subsided by about 30 centimeters in most
areas but remained between 150 cm and 250 cm high on Tuesday,
with an estimated 65,000 houses in four subdistricts affected.

Head of the information section at the Dayeuhkolot district
office, Inen, said the number of flood victims staying in
temporary shelters had reached 22,948 people on Tuesday.

Most of the flood victims are holed up in mosques, public
buildings and the two main posts set up for flood victims on the
grounds of the Dayeuhkolot district office compound in Citeureup
village.

Inen complained about the lack of donations to help the flood
victims, even though villagers lost almost everything except the
clothes on their backs.

"Still at this point, we're having problems providing food and
clean water for them... they badly need blankets and clothes,"
Inen told journalists in Bandung on Tuesday.

According to the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), the victims had
received donations from the PMI's Bandung branch, which said it
handed out 275 kilograms of rice, 20 boxes of instant noodles and
six boxes of mineral water.

Inen added that the hardest-hit areas were Pasawahan,
Citeureup, Cangkuan Wetan and Dayeuhkolot subdistricts. The
overflowing Citarum river's tributaries -- Cipalasari,
Cikapundung Kolot, Cigede, Cisuminta and Citepus rivers -- were
cited as the main cause of the floods.

A lack of food and clean water was also a problem for
approximately 12,000 displaced persons in Baleendah district's
four villages -- Rancamanyar, Andir, Baleendah and Bojong.

The head of the development and community protection section
at Bandung regency, Edin Hendradin, said on Tuesday that efforts
to solicit donations for the flood victims had not really begun
in earnest because flooding was fairly regular in those areas.

Moreover, the regency administration was also busy with the
deadly "garbage-slide" in the villages adjacent to Leuwigajah
dump in south Cimahi, where mountains of garbage collapsed and
flattened at least 70 houses. Over 40 people have been found dead
and almost 90 were still missing as of Tuesday afternoon.

"We'll divide the locations (of the disasters). Hopefully, the
flood subsides soon so the residents can take care of their own
needs and we can focus on the landslide," Edin said.

Floods in south Bandung also swamped hundreds of houses in
Majalaya district's seven villages -- Majakerta, Majasetra,
Sukamaju, Sukamukti, Bojong, Padamulya and Majalaya -- but the
water subsided a day later.

Bandung regency's council speaker, Husni Mutaqien, who visited
flood victims in Dayeuhkolot on Monday night, urged the
administration to concentrate on its river-dredging project in
the Citarum and its tributaries.

Inen went on to say that the regency should also urge the
Bandung city administration, which is located on higher ground,
to work together to prevent more floods.

"The Bandung city administration should repair the drainage
system there and add more water catchment areas so the waters
will not rush down in to our villages," he said.