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.