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)