JP/8/FLOODS
People living along rivers worry about floods
Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The onset of the rainy season has caused thousands of people living along the city's rivers to worry about the safety of their homes and the possibility of floods on a similar scale to those of 2002.
"There are floods every year. I'm scared because they usually start very fast and we have no time to safeguard our belongings," said Rohayah, 50, a resident of Cipinang Besar Selatan subdistrict in East Jakarta.
Her house is located on the Cipinang riverbank.
"I can only hope that this year's floods won't be as bad as last years," she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday, adding that the river had overflown reaching her backyard when it rained heavily last Thursday.
During last year's floods at least 30 people were killed and 300,000 were forced to flee their homes. The biggest flood in the city's history hit 168 of 262 subdistricts.
People living on Ciliwung riverbank at Kampung Melayu subdistrict in East Jakarta and Bukit Duri subdistrict in South Jakarta shared the same concerns.
Both areas were among the worst hit last year with water levels reaching around two meters.
In May, when other areas were safe from flooding, both subdistricts were again hit by floods.
Saiful, 22, a resident of Kampung Melayu, recalled that over 300 hundreds people had been forced to evacuate their houses.
Rivers in Jakarta originate in Bogor. Even when there is no rain in the capital, floods can still occur if it is raining heavily there.
Another contributing factor is the residents' habit of dumping rubbish in the rivers.
The ministry of resettlement and regional infrastructure stated earlier that 45 trucks of garbage from rivers are loaded every day.
Even as the Post spoke to Rohayah her neighbor was throwing garbage in the river.
Saiful, who works as a butcher at Kampung Melayu traditional market, admitted that most people living along the Ciliwung river dispose of their garbage in the river, although community unit officials have hired garbage men to collect it.
"We have to walk quite far to reach the dump site, throwing garbage in the river is easier," said Saiful, referring to the temporary dump site which is located 300 meters away from his house.
To welcome the rainy season, the ministry cleaned up water gates in Cipinang, Manggarai, Cengkareng in West Jakarta and Rawa Badak dam in North Jakarta on Friday.
The activity was also part of the Clean up the World campaign in the city.
Governor Sutiyoso has repeatedly asked people living on riverbanks to move, saying that the city will join with the central government to provide some 30,000 low-cost apartments.
However, the plan seems far from reality, as head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Kwik Kian Gie, said that the government would need some Rp 15 trillion (US$1.77 billion) to build the apartments.