Kelapa Gading fire victims fate uncertain

JAKARTA (JP): Fire victims in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta are still uncertain about their fate following orders to remove their makeshift accommodation from the site.

On Saturday evening the only remaining tent near the razed site was scheduled to be moved, said Arman, one of the few people still living in makeshift accommodation with their families.

A fire razed their homes on Feb. 12 leaving 2,000 people homeless. Victims have been banned from rebuilding as officials said the land on the corner of Jl. Pegangsaan II and Jl. Kelapa Nias Timur was a city asset.

Some refugees have set up tents at other sites along the road near the fire site. One resident said the local district military command which owned the tent was going to use it.

"We were told to move from the tent though we have neither money to rent a room nor a place to take shelter," the resident, Parman said, adding the situation was very cruel.

On Feb. 26 three tents on the St. Yacobus complex school had been moved, a week behind schedule because the school had agreed to accommodate the refugees until Feb. 19.

A canteen owner at the school, Ninik, said some parents of kindergarten pupils had prevented their children from entering class in fear of the crowd on the school grounds.

On Saturday victims, including scrap iron collectors and factory workers, were still waiting for the mayoralty's decision on their request that the city pay them to move from the land.

They said they were building owners and asked for compensation of some Rp 5 million per building if they were not allowed to rebuild.

Some of the residents had to move from the tents as their children suffered fevers and stomach aches, another resident Sumardi said. He added the children were ill because they had spent too long in the tents.

Other victims who had rented rooms on the razed plot said many of them had not yet received promised aid from the city for them to rent elsewhere.

Head of the mayoralty's public order office Boy Firman said earlier those who had rented rooms were entitled to receive Rp 100,000 from the city.

Sumardi, who claimed to own four houses on the plot, said Tuesday the registration of residents entitled to the aid was confusing. Anyone could claim to have rented space on the fire site and receive Rp 100,000 without any evidence, he said.

"Out of 75 people who had received the aid, only 15 so far were fire victims," Sumardi said.

Sumardi was among resident's delegates who visited the mayoralty's office three times last week. They failed to meet the mayor and said they would try again today, Sumardi said. (11)