Use drums to alert people of flood

Use drums to alert people of flood

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta Mayor H. Abdul Kahfi has ordered
the chief of Petamburan subdistrict, an area in the mayoralty
which is prone to seasonal floods, to promote the use of barrels
to alert the residents of floods.

The mayor said if Petamburan subdistrict residents see floods
approaching they should strike the barrels repeatedly to let
their neighbors prepare for evacuation.

"The sound of barrels being pounded is expected to enable
other neighbors to use their time to save their belongings from
the water," he said when he visited the Petamburan area.

Suara Pembaruan daily reported on Tuesday that during his
visit the mayor was accompanied by his deputy, Mora Tua Simamora
and Chief of the Central Jakarta Public Works office H. Bachri
Anwar.

The mayor told the Petamburan residents they should act
immediately if they know there is a clogged water duct because it
will worsen the condition.

Chief of the Central Jakarta Public Works office, H. Bachri
Anwar, said the office has build a new drainage ditch with a
length of 130 meters, a depth of one meter and a width of 80
centimeters to alleviate floods which are an annual occurrence
during the rainy season.

The office spent around Rp 45 million (US$20,547) to build the
new drainage ditch.

Worse

Bachri Anwar said the danger of floods in the Petamburan area
is predicted to worsen this year because of the fact that the
area is lower than the water level of the Banjir Kanal river
which passes through it.

Bachri said the possibility of flood in the Petamburan area is
heightened by the many existing gutters which are blocked by mud
and garbage.

According to Bachri, the office is now preparing thousands of
sandbags to stave off flood water from the Banjir Kanal river.

Petamburan District Chief Tumirin said there are approximately
9,000 people living in the area.

Deputy Governor Tb. M. Rais for Economic and Development
Affairs, told reporters on Monday that Jakarta will never be free
of floods until its infrastructure is improved.

He said the city still needs more check dams and canals.

There are 38 places in Jakarta which are prone to floods, some
being the Civil Servants Cooperative Organization housing complex
in Bintaro, South Jakarta, while in West Jakarta the areas prone
to floods are Palmerah, Kedoya, Angke, Kedaung Kali Angke,
Cengkareng, Taman Kota and Tamansari.

In a bid to protect the Civil Servants Cooperative
Organization housing complex from seasonal floods, the city
administration plans to build a new dam.

The area was inundated by 25-cm of water after the cement dam,
which was built with residents' funds, broke due to the strong
current of Pesanggrahan river last week.

The residents had built a two-kilometer long stone wall to
prevent the annual flood but the strong current broke four meters
of the wall. (mas)