Some people prepared for floods, others not
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With the water level of the flood at 60 centimeters and still rising, Yuli decided it was time to leave her home in Cipinang Melayu, East Jakarta.
The rapid flow of the ever rising Sunter River forced Yuli and her eight-year-old son Sigit to cling to the rope prepared for evacuation by the subdistrict office.
A temporary shelter had already been set up on higher ground. The two stayed there for two days.
"I did not want to repeat the mistake of 2002," said Yuli, 31, referring to the last time the city suffered crippling floods. "That time we had to be rescued by boat and lost most of our belongings."
To anticipate the perennial floods, the Jakarta Flood and Disaster Mitigation Task Force set an early warning system, which involves the monitoring of weather and water levels at 14 sluice gates across the city.
Once a critical condition is reached, the task force will inform the city agencies involved in rescue and relief efforts, as well as the 186 subdistrict heads of 78 flood-prone areas.
The officials are then expected to evacuate the residents and to provide them with emergency shelter.
The situation on the evening of Jan. 18 was different for Aryo, 31, who wants his real name withheld. He was stuck on the second floor of his home in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, with his parents and younger sister surrounded by two-meter high water.
Aryo and his neighbors had wanted to evacuate the area which is located near the Ciliwung River when the state electricity company PLN shut off service at around midnight as the water was rising quickly. But the subdistrict officials he called told him to stay put and wait for assistance.
"We kept waiting and waiting, but no rescue boat showed up until the following evening," Aryo said.
He decided to jump into the chilly floodwater, swimming and wading about one kilometer to reach the office of adventure tour company Arus Liar (wild currents). The company staff came to rescue the family in one of their dinghies.
"The Bukit Duri subdistrict office has provided zero help," said Aryo, who has returned to his home, which was also badly flooded in 1996 and 2002. "No early warning, no boat, no ropes, no food ... nothing."
Aryo said that he was envious of the emergency preparations put in place by officials and community leaders in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, a neighboring subdistrict located just across the Ciliwung River.
"They were better prepared," said Aryo. "At night, I could hear announcements on load speakers informing the residents about the water level at the sluice gates."
A neighborhood unit head of Kampung Melayu, Awang Sanwani, said that by now the residents knew the vital figures by heart.
"When the level at Depok sluice gate reaches two meters and Manggarai reaches 800 centimeters, we have to leave," he said.
The water levels at the Depok and Manggarai sluices are the main indicators of whether or not the Ciliwung River will overflow into the homes of Kampung Melayu residents, 80 percent of whom live by the riverbanks.
Awang said the residents used to check on the water levels themselves, not waiting for information from the flood mitigation task force.
Small blackboards with the latest water levels and weather forecasts written on them are also displayed around Kampung Melayu neighborhoods.
During last week's floods, Kampung Melayu, which was the hardest hit area in the city, saw 9,753 out of its 22,604 residents living in 17 emergency shelters set up by the administration.