Hundreds lose homes in Karet Tengsin

Hundreds lose homes in Karet Tengsin

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of people became homeless yesterday
when a fire destroyed at least 125 slum houses in Karet Tengsin,
Central Jakarta.

No casualties were reported in the fire which began at 3 p.m.
The fire was extinguished within two hours because of access to
the Kali Krukut river.

Men, women and children cried while watching firefighters and
neighbors fight the fire.

Others were seen saving pet birds, chickens, household goods
and other belongings.

The 12 fire engines entering from Jl. Penjernihan could not
approach the houses because of the river. Instead their hoses
were drawn across the water.

Police immediately began investigating the cause of the blaze
and secured the area against possible looting.

Several residents said they believed the fire was lit by
matches in a house in the RT 02 neighborhood. They did not know
if the culprit had been smoking or cooking.

Others said the fire was caused by a short circuit.

The makeshift buildings in the densely populated area were
mostly two-story homes: Each housed a family and several tenants.

The razed area is in front of a new apartment building, built
for victims of a fire which destroyed 250 homes in 1994.

A woman said she could not save anything because the fire
broke out directly behind her house.

A construction worker said he could not save his work
equipment.

"I'm sick today so I was alone in the house. I did not have
the strength to take everything," said Anis who arrived in the
city three weeks ago.

He managed to salvage a large television set belonging to the
family which owned the house he rented with other workers.

Subdistrict head Syaiful Bachri organized local neighborhood
units to arrange a communal kitchen on the ground floor of the
new apartment building.

Syaiful said he was at a management training program at the
nearby Jakarta Design Center when he heard the news.

He said many families would have to spend the night on the
ground floor of the apartment building, while others could sleep
in nearby mosques or at relatives' houses.

Syaiful said low-cost apartments were planned for the rest of
the neighborhood, and the razed area would be designated for
apartments or green space.

"However plans for this razed area are still a long way off.
Negotiations have not even begun," Syaiful said.

Residents said they planned to rebuild on the site.

Sujiko, a port worker in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, said he
would agree to move to an apartment if compensation was adequate.

A woman said, "There are always many thefts during these kinds
of tragedies."

Several residents refused to take their belongings to the
apartment grounds when officials and neighbors said they were
hampering efforts to put out the fire. The families had piled
bundles of their clothes in large uncompleted water pipes and
then squatted near the site.

"We'll move when we're ready, we need to be calm first,"
another woman said. (anr)