N. Jakartans stranded by floods, administration

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For the past 35 years some 90,000 residents, living in the 10- hectare subdistrict of Kebon Bawang in North Jakarta have had to struggle against floods specially during the rainy season.

Unfortunately, they have never received any assistance from the subdistrict office, moreover from the Jakarta administration.

Kardono, a 65-year-old resident of residential unit 11, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that residents in the area routinely suffer from floods that flood their houses up to a height of 70 centimeters.

"We are used to preparing for the worst during the rainy season. Thirty-five years of being neglected has made us flood resistant," he grumbled.

A heavy downpour on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 flooded the area and floodwaters poured into his house reaching a height of 60 cm.

Kardono regretted the fact that the administration has never deployed humanitarian or logistical assistance to help residents. He also complained about the lack of efforts from the administration to prevent floods or, at least, reduce the flood levels.

"In 35 years I have never been given assistance from the administration during the floods that besiege our neighborhood. Worst still is that even the subdistrict officers close their eyes to the problem."

Kardono said in bitter tone that he had never seen nor heard of an inundation post being set up in the neighborhood, as the mayoralty claimed was in existence.

The assistance is only given to flood victims whose areas are flooded for more than 24 hours at a depth of more than 60 cm causing them to halt their activities.

Kebon Bawang subdistrict is very prone to floods as the area borders the Buntu river in the west and Lagoa river in the north. In the middle of the subdistrict lies a canal leading to Lagoa river.

The subdistrict secretary, Purnomo, said: "The water flow in the canal, which is already shallow, has been obstructed by garbage. It's bad as there are several bottle necks in the canal before it empties into the sea."

He further explained that the subdistrict could only rely on the help from the North Jakarta mayoralty office as his office had no budget to handle flood relief or prevention.

"We are relying heavily on the mayoralty in flood control. We don't even have our own water pump to reduce the flood level."

Efforts directed toward flood control have also been colored by confusion. Head of the city Department of Public Works, IGKG Suena, said on Saturday, that the prevention and the handling of floods had been delegated to each mayoralty in Jakarta.

"The deputy mayor has the authorization to coordinate officers in preventing and handling floods. Furthermore, they have the authority to declare Siaga I (high alert)," said Suena, as quoted by staff member I Nyoman Suwandi.

However, North Jakarta deputy mayor, Pinondang Simanjuntak, rejected the statement saying he did not have full authorization to handle the flood as claimed by the Department of Public Works.

Pinondang said his administration has only provided an inundation post in each subdistrict and a water pump in areas prone to flooding throughout his area of jurisdiction. But he was not authorized to declare a Siaga I (high alert) in flooded areas.

"I don't have the authority to declare a high alert. I think the mayor is authorized to do that," he said.