Riverbank dwellers resign themselves to annual floods

Riverbank dwellers resign themselves to annual floods

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Usep Sunandar is a regular, albeit reluctant, guest at the Santa
Maria Fatimah school compound in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, as
his riverside shack is regularly inundated by Jakarta's perennial
floods.

The five by six meter shanty he has shared with his wife, four
children, a sister, and a brother-in-law since the early 1970s is
located on along the Ciliwung river, a few meters from the
water's edge.

The recurring floods have eroded the riverbank, forcing him to
rebuild his house, which originally measured 12 by six meters, on
a smaller scale every year.

"I don't want to move because it's easy to get a bus from
there and it's very close to the Jatinegara market," the 44-year-
old told The Jakarta Post.

Usep, who doesn't have a regular job, said that his family
stayed in the shelter for 43 days after the big flood in 2002,
which killed 31 people and left 30,000 homeless.

Although the 2002 flood was the slowest to recede, it was the
one in 1996 that he remembers most vividly.

"The water washed away my house," he said.

Even though having to live for long periods in the shelter is
nothing new for Usep, he still cannot get used to the poor
sanitation facilities and the lack of clean water for the
approximately 560 people currently taking refuge there.

"Since early in the morning, people have been standing in long
lines to bathe in the two public washrooms that have been
provided," said Usep. "My wife also had to go to down to the
river to wash the mud stains from the clothes we managed to
salvage from the house."

Usep's neighbor, a thin woman named Tati, watched her 12-year-
old daughter play dominoes with her friends while waiting for
lunch from the soup kitchen.

Tati, 42, who lives in Kampung Pulo and works as a washerwoman
to feed her three teenage children, has been living in the
shelter for a week.

With only a woven mat to sleep on, she and her children manage
to survive on donations of food, medicine, clothing and a little
money.

"I have only Rp 5,000 in my pocket, which was given to me by a
kind lady who stopped by here yesterday to hand out snacks and
food. I don't have any savings at all," Tati said. She added that
this was the second time she had experienced flooding since her
family moved to the area five years ago.

Her husband drowned, trapped in their shack, during the 2002
flood.

"The rescue team had a hard time recovering his body as our
house is situated in a very narrow alley on the riverbank," said
Tati, tears running down her cheeks.

Despite the painful memory, she still lives in the same shack
as she has nowhere else to go.

According to Tati, she has received sufficient help during her
time in the shelter. "We get three meals a day and medical
support. I still have a fever and sometimes stomach cramps due to
the cold weather at night and the wet. But luckily, my children
are okay."

According to Edi Patinama, food aid coordinator, there had
been no problems with the distribution of aid, which included
food, bottled water, clothing and medicines.

He said that his team had received donations from both the
government and private sector, political parties and private
donors, as well as support from the police, the city water
utilities and the Jakarta health agency.(001)