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)