Residents relieved as rains recede, but future still cloudy

Residents relieved as rains recede, but future still cloudy

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent heavy rains have been lessening over the last week;
a welcome respite for the people whose houses were inundated by
the big floods last month.

Confirmation that the peak of the rainy season peak has passed
was received from an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics
Agency's (BMG) on Saturday.

"The peak of the rainy season came a little later than our
forecast in early January. Now there will be less rain in the
upcoming months," said a BMG official, who requested anonymity.

The rainy season reached its peak at the end of January,
causing three-week floods in the capital and paralyzing all
activities for over one week.

Flood victims, exhausted by the huge clean up after the floods
are relieved. However, they also warned the Jakarta
administration to learn from its mistakes and lack of
preparedness and also urged it to start taking real action to
prevent floods in the future.

"The administration must not forget their responsibility to
the flood victims," said Adrianus, a resident of Jl. Bukit Duri
Utara in Manggarai subdistrict, South Jakarta.

He blamed the administration for failing to warn residents to
take precautions before the floods hit the city.

Adrianus's neighbor, Cipto, urged the administration to keep
providing assistance for flood victims as they need to get on
with their lives.

"The administration had announced that it would give financial
help to the victims to renovate damaged houses. So far, it's only
an empty promise," he said.

Their houses, which are located near the Ciliwung river, were
inundated by two-meter high floodwaters. Despite the fact that
the waters had begun to recede last week, they still have to
repair the houses.

"I'll repair the house as soon as the water really recedes.
I'm lucky I have savings for the repair work but what about the
poor?" questioned Adrianus, who has allocated Rp 5 million
(US$490) to repair his house.

Governor Sutiyoso had announced that the administration would
disburse money to help owners whose houses were damaged, with the
exception of the squatters along riverbanks. However his words
have yet to become a reality.

Until now, some parts of the city, particularly Kapuk Muara
subdistrict, North Jakarta, are still inundated.

More than 25 people, mostly toddlers, died after suffering
diarrhea following the floods.

Critics have admonished the administration which violated its
own master plan by allowing developers to build luxury housing
complexes -- triggered by the development of Pantai Indah Kapuk
in North Jakarta -- in greenbelt and catchment areas.

Governor Sutiyoso, who refused to step down following his
failure to manage the floods, preferred to condemn nature saying
that floods occurred in Jakarta in a five-year cycle.

His administration failed to help people handle the floods
despite its annual allocation of funds to curb the problem. This
year, the administration has allocated Rp 294 billion from the
city budget for flood control and prevention.