Garbage aggravates post-flood illnesses

Garbage aggravates post-flood illnesses

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Flood victims started to return home over the last few days
but sickness threatens in the next three weeks unless the piles
of garbage in various flooded areas are collected.

"We are currently at a critical stage as post-flood illness,
especially diarrhea, begins to occur. The situation has been
worsened by the garbage still awaiting collection in several
areas that were flooded," said head of the City Health Agency,
Abdul Cholik Masuli, on Thursday.

"We will order all puskesmas (community health centers) across
the city to open 24 hours per day starting on Feb. 15. I admit it
was rather late but at present we are still gathering together
teams of health workers to be at the puskesmas."

As of Thursday, 18,000 people, most of whom come from West
Jakarta, have been suffering diarrhea, with 195 of them
hospitalized. They were admitted to Tarakan city hospital on Jl.
Kyai Caringin, Central Jakarta. Of the 195 patients, 166 of them
were children under five years of age.

Cholik has appealed to the sanitation agency to deal with the
piles of garbage.

The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) echoed similar
concern.

IDI secretary-general Dr. Dody Firmanda said the piles of
garbage -- which contain viruses, bacteria and parasites -- were
the ideal medium for spreading sickness.

"Flies will carry the germs to evacuees' food and drinking
supply," he said.

The bacteria would then infect the human digestive system and
cause diarrhea.

Dody warned evacuees to be on the alert about personal hygiene
by cleaning their environment.

Discarded musty and grubby garbage -- comprising debris from
shanty dwellings, furniture, mud and household scrap -- was seen
piling up in several flooded areas, mostly located near the
temporary shelters where the victims took refuge.

Both sidewalks along Kampung Melayu flyover, East Jakarta,
were filled with garbage covered by mud. Evacuees were seen using
the sidewalks to dry their clothes and cooking tools.

Ibu Endang, who lives in the area, said the absence of garbage
carts or litter bins forced her to throw garbage onto the
sidewalk.

"We're all tired and there's nowhere to dispose of garbage.
That's why I put them on the sidewalk. Let the garbage men handle
it," she complained.

Endang said the garbage had remained uncollected for more than
a week. Only scavengers came regularly to collect discarded
plastic and steel.

Similar scenes could also be observed along Jl. Teluk Gong
Raya and Jl. Tubagus Angke in North Jakarta where the
accumulating garbage could be seen piling up in front of a
foodstall. The garbage had been left there for four days.

Along Jl. Cipinang Raya and Jl. Bekasi Timur Raya in East
Jakarta, garbage was also scattered on the sidewalk on both sides
of the road.

City Sanitation Agency deputy chief Rama Boedi said on
Wednesday that his office had deployed 113 trucks to collect
30,000 cubic meters of garbage every day, a 20 percent increase
on normal.

The agency has also cooperated with the Army, which has
deployed personnel to clean up garbage in several places that
suffered flooding. Unfortunately, all such efforts were still far
from sufficient. Mountains of garbage could still be seen in
those areas.