People become resilient during disaster
People become resilient during disaster
Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Garbage has always been hated by people, especially when it is
dirty and smelly. However, they have welcomed the new function of
garbage carts during flooding that has plagued Jakarta since
Monday.
In some flooded areas, people have taken advantage of garbage
carts as a means of transportation to either convey people
through the floodwaters or to evacuate others from their
inundated houses.
Carts are being used not only to carry people, but also their
belongings like motorcycles, televisions, mattresses, kitchen
equipment and the like. Each cart can carry between three and
seven people, depending on their size. One person steers the cart
from the front, and three to five people push it from behind.
Their customers are people wanting to take refuge in temporary
shelters or relatives' houses.
The cart operators have their own marketing strategy to
attract passengers.
"If you want to be safe and dry, take a ride. It's cheap, only
Rp 3,000 (29 U.S. cents). If you'd prefer to get wet, plunge into
the water. That's free," sang out Jatmiko, a cart operator on Jl.
Pasar Pengampuan, Kembangan, West Jakarta, in a bid to drum up
business.
He often approached motorists, hoping they would take a ride
on his cart.
"You can't go through the water. Take a ride. For a motorcycle
it's only Rp 10,000," he said, adding that he sometimes charged
Rp 20,000 for a motorcycle with the rider. The rate depends on
the water depth and current.
To persuade more people to go on the carts, another operator
announced that the current from the overflowing Pesanggrahan
River was very strong and had swept away a taxi on Jl. Pasar
Pengampuan on Friday night. The taxi was finally found stranded
in water-logged bushes and mud.
Jatmiko and five friends claimed they had earned Rp 300,000 in
only three hours, ferrying people in a vegetable cart. They
divided the money evenly, each getting Rp 50,000.
The amount was much higher than their daily profit as
vegetable vendors.
Another cart operator, Mastur, and three friends earned Rp
125,000. Mastur borrowed his wife's vegetable cart.
"I'm glad my husband has a temporary, lucrative job," said
Mastur's wife Sasri, adding that her husband had recently lost
his job.
Agus, a resident of South Jakarta's Cipulir, which saw major
flooding, said the temporary job had been a blessing in disguise.
"Instead of being depressed because of the disaster, I'm
rather enjoying doing this job," said the laborer.
Agus and his friends' working hours depend on how long they
can put up with the cold and dirty water.
The success of the cart operators has inspired others to
follow their lead.
"We don't have any customers yet because this is our first
time out," another operator in Cipulir, Mizwar, said, before
calling out to prospective customers.
He was holding onto a garbage cart, ignoring the stench and
the garbage floating around him. Perhaps he dreams of collecting
Rp 100,000 in the few hours left before the floodwater recedes.
Perhaps, like other operators, he also wishes the rain would
continue.