Jakarta remains on alert for floods
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As water levels at several sluice gates in Greater Jakarta returned to normal on Monday, Governor Sutiyoso downgraded the alert level.
However, officials from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency urged residents to remain vigilant as they forecast heavy rain all night on Tuesday and Wednesday.
An official at the City Public Works Agency said that his team had kept water levels at the sluices low by continuously pumping out reservoirs.
"To double our efforts, we also dredged the reservoirs to enable them to accommodate river overflows," Maman Suparman explained.
He added that his team had finished dredging Setiabudi reservoir in South Jakarta.
The Jakarta Post observed public works officials removing garbage from rivers on Monday.
Although floodwater had receded in many parts of the city, large puddles continued to disrupt traffic and public transportation, causing hours of delay.
Unlike Jakarta, areas in Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor are still submerged in water.
The overflowing Cisadane River, caused by heavy rain from Sunday night until Monday morning, inundated hundreds of houses in Teluk Naga district, Tangerang.
"The water is about one meter deep," Dulhadi, an official at Teluk Naga district office was quoted as saying by tempointeraktif.com.
Meanwhile, state elementary school Jatimakmur VI in Pondokgede, Bekasi, is holding classes in a shop-house because the school collapsed in heavy rain.
"No one was injured in the incident, which took place at about 6 a.m.," principal Suratmi said.
She added that some parents had contributed Rp 8,000 (90 U.S. cents) each toward the Rp 2 million per month rent for the shop- house.
Flooding in the capital reached a critical level on Wednesday, killing two people and forcing over 20,000 residents to take refuge on drier land.
The worst flood in recent years in the capital was in 2002, which killed 31 people and left 300,000 people homeless.
Although the administration was organized in evacuating flood victims and distributing aid this year, many residents complained of a lack of aid.
According to city spokesman Catur Laswanto, the administration will take Rp 500 million from its budget as a reserve fund for the city's flood mitigation task force.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Monday that he had asked Sutiyoso to relocate residents of flood-prone areas "or they will be continuously affected by floods".
The East Jakarta administration previously planned to build raised, low-cost apartments to relocate Ciliwung riverbank squatters, the idea of which gained support from City Council on Monday.
"It's an alternative for the residents of Kampung Pulo, Kampung Melayu and the surrounding areas to avoid flooding," said council speaker Ade Supriatna.
"We have to return the function of riverbanks to green areas. The residents must support this policy."