Manggarai fire leaves thousands homeless, jobless

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of residents in the slums along Jl. Manggarai Utara II, South Jakarta, must now brave the cold nights of the rainy season, after a fire razed the neighborhood and left them homeless.

The victims now live in temporary shelters -- makeshift tents on the street in front of Manggarai railway station. Hundreds have also taken shelter inside the station.

They live among the merchandise salvaged from their burned-out stalls, and their furniture and home appliances are stacked haphazardly along the street.

One of the victims, Budi, 50, said that when the fire burnt his house down with everything in it, he lost not only his home but his main source of income.

"We lost most of our merchandise in the fire, and there was little that we could save," Budi said, adding that he had a five- and-dime store prior to the fire.

But what saddened him most was that his family no longer had a place to live.

"We don't know where we will live after tonight's fire," Budi told The Jakarta Post, while clutching his granddaughter.

He, however, said that if the city administration granted permission, he would rebuild his house and start his business once again.

Most of the residents on Jl. Manggarai Utara II made their living as small-scale traders, street vendors and housemaids.

"I've been living here for almost 40 years and I have nowhere else to go," he said.

Most of the slum dwellers in the area, as in any other slum in Jakarta, built their houses without a proper building permit (IMB), making them targets of eviction by the city administration.

If Budi was fortunate enough to be able to save even a small part of his belongings from the fire, Sukarni, 35, was not.

"All the 80 chickens I was going to sell tomorrow at Rumput Market were destroyed in the fire," she said.

Sukarni was only able to save a TV set and her daughter's diploma when the fire started to engulf her house.

"My rented house was also burnt down in the disaster, and I don't know where my family will live tomorrow," she said in tears.

Another victim, Seneh, 30, told the Post that she and her daughter managed to escape the fire with only the clothes they had on.

When asked about the possibility of rebuilding her house, she asked, "How could I rebuild my house, if I don't have any money?"

Seneh, whose husband passed away several years ago and who has no relatives in the city, is wondering where she will live now -- as are most of her neighbors.