Jakarta riverbank dwellers apathetic about coming floods

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.