Many students lose uniforms, books in Sawah Besar fire

JAKARTA (JP): Many children whose homes were destroyed in the Sawah Besar fire in Central Jakarta cut school as their books, uniforms and money had gone up in smoke.

At least 200 students, 120 of whom were primary school students, were among thousands made homeless in Kartini subdistrict.

Ridwan Gozali, a subdistrict public order official, said Tuesday several of the hundreds of elementary, junior and senior high students did go to school but without uniforms or books.

"We have distributed all the donations we got but we still need a lot more," Ridwan said, adding he did not know how many students there were.

The fire destroyed around 126 houses on Jl. Lautze and Jl. Laksana on Thursday and around 650 families are living with relatives, or taking refuge elsewhere.

Rusmini, a mother of three teenagers, said Saturday her children had to stay at a relative's house. They could not go to school as they had neither money, books nor decent clothes.

"My eldest child who is in senior high school will have her final examination in a couple of weeks. I just hope God will show us the way to pass through all this madness," Rusmini told The Jakarta Post.

Rusmini, who sold gado-gado (vegetables in peanut sauce) said she could not save anything in the fire, which began in a house just two houses away.

"I didn't even remember to collect the Rp 10,000 (US$4.13) from the gado-gado sales in my drawer on the terrace," said Rusmini who was alone in the house when the tragedy took place.

Several of her neighbors were staying with relatives, at mosques or Buddhist temples.

At least 50 people, mostly mothers and children, were housed in 36-square-meter tent set up in a temple parking lot.

Cholid, who was staying in the tent with his wife and two children, said he was worried about their health.

"My children can hardly sleep at night because of the cold weather and mosquitoes. This shelter is too small for all of us," Cholid said.

The fire victims in the tent had to move to the temple's small terrace on Friday night because heavy rainfall had flooded the shelter.

Like fire victims elsewhere, several tried to survive among the ruins of their homes, in fear of scrap iron scavengers taking their valuables.

The fire victims were allowed to rebuild their homes, said Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi.

This was good news, but Rusmini asked, "From where do we get the money?"

Each of the 650 families had been supplied with a plastic mat, a sarong, a pillow and blanket from the city's social affairs agency, said Sanusi, who was coordinating the contributions.

Sanusi said President Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo had also visited the fire site and donated Rp 10 million through the Golongan Karya branch in the area.

He said the money was mainly for food and clothing, and that children were a priority. (04)