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.