Kelapa Gading slum fire leaves thousands homeless

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Residents of the Pulo Ngandang area in West Kelapa Gading sub- district, North Jakarta, may have to spend Idul Fitri in temporary shelters as their houses were destroyed by fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The fire started at about 1:20 a.m. and rapidly spread to over 500 houses which were mainly made of wooden planks and plywood.

Most of the houses were built on stilts because the area is swampy. The fact that most of the materials were dry wood had helped the fire to spread quickly.

The presence of 20 fire engines deployed by the North Jakarta Fire Department could do little to extinguish the blaze and all houses in the slum area were destroyed by 5 a.m.

Many of the residents took shelter under the Wiyoto Wiyono elevated toll road just in front of their charred homes while clutching the meager belongings that they could evacuate from the inferno.

"The fire razed 527 houses, home to 1,988 residents from three RT (neighborhood units)," the head of the RW (community unit) 13, Triyono, said.

"I have asked those who are now taking refuge under the toll road to return back here. But they do not have any other choice as we do not have any temporary shelters here. We do not have enough tents."

The residents created temporary shelters with all materials available, especially large sheets of plastics, along the river to cover them from the sun.

Triyono also said the residents were in need of fresh water and electrical wiring but there was plenty of food.

"PLN has promised to provide electricity but we said we must provide our own wiring.

"I don't think that my people still have money to buy tents or electrical wiring. Much of our property has been lost."

Eyewitnesses said the fire started in a house rented by Edo, who reportedly worked as a security guard in the industrial area nearby.

"I do not know what his job was exactly because he is a new resident here," said Triyono.

"We could not find him after the fire as if he disappeared into thin air."

When asked whether the fire was done on purpose, Triyono said he did not have any proof.

"There are rumors being circulated that the fire was done on purpose to get us out of here. But I just don't have the proof."

"Even though we are considered illegal (no Jakarta residency status), we will rebuild our houses here. We have nowhere to go."

Last month, the North Jakarta Public Order Office evicted residents from Triyono's six southern RTs claiming that they were illegal residents squatting on someone else's land.

Pulo Ngandang is a swampy area along the Kali Sunter river and is located near the upmarket Kelapa Gading housing estates.

There are several shopping malls and department stores around and the luxurious houses are visible from the now-empty swampy area.

The land along the river bank, according to Triyono, belongs to the Citarum-Cisadane Flood Project under the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure.

"The first residents started to occupy this swampy area in the 1950s. We do not know who owns this land. But we know that it belongs to the state.

"We do not have to ask permission to build here because we have occupied it for quite a long time when no one else was here," said Triyono who started to live here in 1976.

The fire also razed a mosque and a church but a pesantren (Islamic school) survived the destruction.

"Alhamdulillah (Praise Allah) our pesantren survived although the fire started right behind the school.

"Wind blew the fire southward and consumed houses in RT 8 and RT 7," said ustadz (Islamic teacher) Miftahul Falah.

The school teaches the neighborhood children and currently has 75 students.

The pesantren was quickly turned into a public kitchen by the North Jakarta Social Welfare Office.

"But we can't do much now as our fresh water supply was cut following the fire," said Miftahul.

The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) North Jakarta chapter also had problems in starting its own public kitchen.

"We established the kitchen at 7 a.m. but local authorities failed to provide us with fresh water," said a volunteer who refused to be named.

"I guess it was because the neighborhood is an illegal one. It happens a lot."