Jakarta riverbank dwellers apathetic about coming floods

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Suffering through floods every year, many of the people living along the banks of the Ciliwung River seem to have given up and accepted that they will have to deal with the flooding again this rainy season.

"What else can we do? Floods hit our area every year. We don't even feel sad about it anymore," the chief of community unit 04 in Manggarai, South Jakarta, Ardiansyah, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"That's the risk of living along the river. But most of the time we can cope with it," he said.

There are some 1,500 families or about 8,500 people living in the community unit.

Ardiansyah, a native of Jakarta who has lived in Manggarai since 1958, said the flooding that struck Jakarta earlier this year was the worst he has seen since the early 1960s.

"Luckily we received so many donations from people who cared about our suffering. We were even able to channel some of the donations to other community units," he said.

He said the donors were unable to donate the aid directly to other community units because of the lack of access to the flooded areas.

When asked if the residents in his community unit had begun to make preparations for the coming rainy season, such as stockpiling items such as tents, drugs and food, Ardiansyah said he saw no reason for such precautions.

"Why would we do this? We are accustomed to the flooding every year."

Ardiansyah also said city officials failed to help the residents during the flooding earlier this year.

Manggarai subdistrict head Darsono refused to be interviewed about the preparations being made in anticipation of another round of flooding, saying his subdistrict was relatively free from floods.

"It would be better for you to monitor Bukit Duri or Kebon Baru subdistrict rather than mine," he said through one of his staff members.

Ardiansyah, though, disagreed with Darsono's view.

"Of course, Darsono can say that because he does not live here. He only visited us once during the last flooding.

"I doubt he has the guts to set foot here during the flood season. No wonder he said there was no problem in his subdistrict," Ardiansyah said.

Interviewed separately, an employee at the nearby Manggarai floodgate, Sunaryo, said officials from the nearby subdistricts were less responsive than the heads of community units.

"Usually the community unit heads contact us directly by phone or radio to get the latest information on any possible flooding," Sunaryo told the Post.

"One or two subdistrict officials might contact us here but usually they fail to alert the people as quickly as the community unit heads," he said.

Ardiansyah said he stayed in close contact with the floodgate keepers to stay informed about the threats of flooding.

Even if there is no rain in Jakarta, the Ciliwung River, which originates in the mountains in Bogor, can burst its banks if it rains in Bogor or Depok.

Sunaryo said his post received warnings from a monitoring post in Depok, and then relayed the warnings to the flood command center of the City Public Works Agency in Jatibaru, Central Jakarta.

"Usually there is a period of three to seven hours from the warning to the flooding, depending on the rain and soil saturation level," he said.

"Dry soil can absorb more water than wet soil, reducing the water volume," he said.

Currently, most of the soil along the Ciliwung River is already halfway saturated, according to Sunaryo.

He also said the amount of rainfall had to be monitored because incessant rain could increase soil saturation along the river bank.

"The condition now is quite safe, with Depok reporting that water height is 85 centimeters. Here it is 730 centimeters.

"Even if the water height here has not risen, we have to increase our alertness if Depok reports a water height of 200 centimeters," said Sunaryo.

During the flooding earlier this year, the Depok monitoring post reported a water height of 300 centimeters, with the water height at the Manggarai floodgate 1,050 centimeters.