Officials must provide early warning on floods
Officials must provide early warning on floods
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a bid to improve the city's flood warning system, subdistrict
heads across the city have been made responsible for alerting
residents before water inundates their areas.
Subdistrict heads will be informed by the city's crisis
prevention center at City Hall on heavy rainfall upstream from Jakarta
and of water levels at sluice gates.
"Subdistrict heads will warn residents so that they can make
preparations before floodwater deluges their houses," said deputy
governor Fauzi Bowo when briefing subdistrict heads on Thursday
at City Hall.
"They can use telephones, mobile phones, bedug (large drum at
mosques) or even kentongan (bamboo drums) to alert residents," he
said.
A total of 186 out of 262 subdistrict heads attended the
briefing.
"It is important to make sure that the early warning system
reaches all residents in flood-prone areas," said Fauzi.
He also pinpointed the importance of public kitchens and
temporary shelters that must be prepared by subdistrict heads for
evacuees.
People slammed the city administration for its poor warning
system during massive floods last year in which at least 31
people died and 300,000 others were forced to leave their homes.
A total of 167 subdistricts were submerged.
Many people stranded on the second floor of their houses were
left without supplies as rescue teams were unable to reach them.
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) has warned that
torrential rain would reach its peak in January and February next
year.
The decreasing number of water catchment areas in the capital
and people's habit of throwing garbage into rivers have been
blamed as causes of flooding.
City Hall spokesman Muhayat said the administration could use
its Rp 800 billion (US$94.12 million) reserve fund if the funds
allocated for flood emergency efforts were not enough.
Earlier, the city's crisis coordinating team officer, Z.A.T.
Siregar, mentioned a "several hundred billion rupiah" budget for
the center.
A total of 40,874 personnel from the administration, police,
military, search and rescue squad, the local Red Cross and a
student outdoor activity group are all on-call in the case of
floods. The number is higher than last year's 25,000.