Jakartans clean up their houses amid fears of further flooding
Jakartans clean up their houses amid fears of further flooding
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Many flood victims continued to clean their homes on Monday as
the floodwater, which had inundated their homes for days, receded
considerably, but fears remained that flooding might hit their
homes again.
For most residents, the fear of renewed floods still haunted
them such that they were reluctant to take the risk of putting
their belongings back on the floor. Those living in two-story
dwellings took few items downstairs.
"I'm afraid that another flood might come again, so I only
took some of my furniture downstairs," said Panjaitan, 50, a
resident in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta.
Panjaitan revealed that her house had only just been cleaned
of garbage and silt when fresh floodwater inundated it again last
Wednesday. The renewed flooding destroyed many of her
possessions, mostly furniture and electronic goods.
"My top priority now is to renovate the damaged kitchen," she
said.
"Food and drink are the top priority. Later, we will restore
our bedrooms and, last of all, repaint the walls," said
Panjaitan, whose husband worked for a private company on Jl.
Sudirman, Central Jakarta,
During the floods, her family was forced to buy food and drink
every day as many of the cooking utensils, as well as her
refrigerator, were destroyed by the flooding.
She said that she had spent a lot of money on food and
cleaning the house, but declined to reveal how much.
Like Panjaitan, Fahrul, a resident of Cipinang Besar Utara
subdistrict in East Jakarta, said he was forced to spend a lot of
money cleaning up his home.
"It has been millions of rupiah, I think: too much to count,"
he said.
He spent the money paying for the assistance provided by some
other residents.
Fahrul said he had no idea when he would repaint the patchy
walls in his house, preferring to wait until the end of the rainy
season.
Mahdi, 56, a resident of Bukit Duri subdistrict in South
Jakarta, is among those who believe that the floods will not
recur.
"Insya Allah (God willing), they won't recur. That's why we've
begun to fix all the damage," Mahdi said, referring to the recent
reduction in rain.
Along with his four children, he even started painting the
walls and fence of his house. It is located only about 40 meters
away from a bank of the Ciliwung river.
But Siatek, 55, owner of a shop selling paint on Jl. Pramuka,
Central Jakarta, revealed that there had been no significant
increase in the demand for paint in the wake of the floods.
"The market is relatively bleak. Many flood victims are likely
to await until March, for the dry season to begin. Sunlight is
needed to speed up the paint-drying process," he said.
Neither did the floods produce much benefit for furniture
businesses, although a lot of furniture was damaged in the
floods, said Aseng, the owner of a furniture shop in Cipinang,
East Jakarta.
"Residents don't account for the lion's share of our market.
The largest share goes to the office sector," Aseng said.
"They (the residents) prefer to clean up their furniture first
rather than purchase new items, as furniture is not among their
basic needs," he said.
However, according to Aseng, the furniture market was in the
doldrums anyway, as many offices had cut spending on furniture
amid the country's economic crisis.