Kuningan community resumes activities

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Tenants of buildings badly damaged in last week's bombing at the Australian Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta, have begun to return to their offices and resume work.

Most of the shattered windows of Plaza 89, located across the street from the embassy, had been replaced as of Friday. Several tenants returned to work on Tuesday. "But we still huddle in the conference room instead of at our usual desks," said Yanti, who works on the 11th floor of the building.

The building's head of security, Herri Widianto, said that by next Tuesday, all of the main repairs would have been completed and activity at the building would be completely back to normal.

Construction workers began repairing the damage on the day of the explosion, he said. "We estimated the repairs would take two weeks, but it has turned out to be faster."

The 12-story building experienced some of the worst damage in the bombing, with almost all of its windows broken in the blast. Some of the people working in the building were among the more than 180 people injured in the attack, although none were among the 10 fatalities.

Yanti said no additional safety measures were being applied. "The management has already been conducting evacuation drills about twice a year for years."

"In the future, the venetian blinds will be kept shut. If it (a bombing) happens again, they can stop the flying glass," she said.

When The Jakarta Post visited the building on Friday, the offices of PT Freeport Indonesia and the Greek Embassy on the 12th floor were still closed.

The Rabobank office in the building was open. "Half of our operations have been temporarily moved to our office on Jl. Fatmawati," an employee there said.

Repair work on Menara Gracia, which is located next to the embassy, is proceeding slowly. The only activity in the building was on the eighth and sixth floors.

"We hope to finish replacing the broken windows inside the building and finish fixing the ceiling within a week, so the air conditioners can be turned on," said Cynthia S. Prasetio of the building's management PT Paramacitra Murniabadi.

Although none of the 52 tenants had confirmed that they were moving out of the building, Cynthia expected that some would. "The trauma ... we had glass raining down on us."

Muhammad Aulia Adnan, who owns a law consultancy firm in the building, said he was looking for a new location. "I'm definitely moving. Two reasons: economical and sentimental," said Aulia, who was injured in the blast and needed 10 stitches.

"Clients do not want to come here and some of our employees are still traumatized," he said.

Cynthia said the damage to the building was estimated at between Rp 5 billion (US$561,798) and Rp 10 billion. "We don't know yet whether our insurance will cover the costs."

The management of the adjacent building, Graha Binakarsa, said it had suffered Rp 1 billion in damages. The first and fourth floors of the building were the most badly damaged.

The building's technicians are repairing the electricity, water, and air-conditioning systems, said Dominggus Tagadako of the management. Independent contractors are expected to come in on Saturday or Sunday.

"We will finish the repairs in a few days," he added.