Negligence to blame for Jakarta fires
Damar Harsanto and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It has been three days now, but as of Saturday the flames were still burning in the Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta, is touted as being the largest textile and garment market in Southeast Asia.
An exhausting job, indeed, for the more than 200 fire fighters who have been working day and night, backed up by 38 fire trucks, to finally put out the flames.
Two of them, Parsimin and Talendrek, were rushed to the hospital on Friday suffering from smoke inhalation.
Even the heavy rains that have being pouring down on the city over the last few days failed to failed to finally dampen down the blaze.
The fire was the largest as well the longest-lasting this year in Jakarta. Over 5,500 kiosks have been affected, and all business in the market brought to an abrupt halt with no word on when it will be able to start up again. The burned-out traders have yet to reach any agreement with the city administration over temporary relocation.
The fire that razed the Tanah Abang market once again reminded Jakartans how vulnerable their city is to fire threats.
Jakarta Fire Department chief Johnny Pangaribuan said the market management had failed to provide adequate fire safety systems and equipment as required by Bylaw No. 3/1992 on fire prevention.
This bylaw stipulates that every 800 square meters of a public building should be served by a fire hydrant.
With a total floor area of some 82,000 square meters, the Tanah Abang market should have at least 100 hydrants installed.
In fact, on paper at any rate, the four-story market building has 125 hydrants, 24 fire extinguishers and 12 water pumps. Unforgivably, only one of those 125 hydrants was actually working.
The market also lacked sprinklers as well as heat and smoke detectors as required under the bylaw.
Concurring with Johnny, sociologist Wardah Hafidz said that public ignorance on the dangers of fire had contributed to the massive blaze.
"People are simply ignorant as to the threat of fire as can be seen, for instance, from their careless habit of using sockets for multiple connections, forgetting that this could easily lead to a short circuit, the most frequent cause of fires here," Wardah said.
The government, in this case the city administration, was also blamed for its failure to educate people as to the dangers posed by fires.
"Many traditional markets, which are mostly run by the city administration, are not equipped with proper fire safety equipment like detectors, sprinklers and portable fire extinguishers," said Wardah.
These markets would be the next to go up in smoke if the government, as well the people using the buildings, failed to improve their awareness of fire dangers, Wardah warned.
The city administration, through PD Pasar Jaya, manages more than 120 traditional markets across Jakarta.
"It is the government's job to encourage the public to provide proper fire safety systems and have their fire safety equipment regularly checked so as to prevent fires," said Wardah, who is also the chairwoman of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) non- governmental organization.
The fire in Tanah Abang market is the fourth major fire to occur in Jakarta this year. Earlier in January, a massive fire razed about 500 semi-permanent kiosks in Senen market. Since January, at least 98 fires have broken out in the city, claiming seven lives.
The ignorance of Jakarta people about fires was clearly on display during the Tanah Abang fire.
Despite the rapid spread of the blaze, traders and their employees braved the flames in an effort to save their merchandise. They seemed completely unconcerned that they were blocking the way for fire fighters trying to get to the blaze.
Worse still, thousands of passers-by, including residents and passing motorists, congregated to watch the fire, causing massive traffic jams.
Before the fire, the possibility of such a devastating blaze was the last thing on the mind of Zulkarnain, a textile trader who lost two kiosks to the flames.
"I lost both of my shops here. The destroyed merchandise was worth more than Rp 300 million (US$33,333) for each kiosk," Zulkarnain told The Jakarta Post while pointing to the third floor of one of the gutted blocks.
Zulkarnain could only watch the fire fighters try to put out the blaze -- a battle they were doomed to lose due to the lack of water.
The closure of the market, the main supplier of textiles and garments to many firms around the country, could leave millions of people jobless.
The market supplies garment makers in Pekalongan in Central Java, Tasikmalaya, Garut and Bogor in West Java, as well as many international buyers, particularly those in the used-garment trade to a number of African countries.