Five dead, 100,000 displaced by floods in Indonesian capital

By Nabiha Shahab, AFP

At least five people have been killed in floods in Jakarta with more than 100,000 others forced to camp out at roadsides and in emergency shelters after days of torrential downpours.

With more rain forecast, disaster officials said they were struggling to cope. Hundreds of troops and navy personnel equipped with inflatable boats and rafts were deployed to help the capital's worst-hit areas.

"We have done the optimum effort to evacuate people but because of the number and the vast area to cover we hope people understand (the problems we are facing)," Sugeng Triutomo from the national disaster management body (Bakornas) told ElShinta radio.

More than 100,000 people had been displaced by the rainy-season floods, the state Antara news agency reported, citing Bakornas figures.

Bakornas official Sunardi said five people were killed and tens of thousands of homes flooded.

"We have yet to count offices, school buildings and hospitals inundated by the floods because we are still focusing on evacuating flood victims," he told Antara as the rains started again Saturday evening.

Hundreds of families were seen huddled together by roads on higher ground after fleeing their flooded homes in the city, which is criss-crossed by 13 rivers.

Water up to two metres (more than six feet) submerged areas of the city, including the upmarket Kelapa Gading housing complex in the north, which is usually less prone to flooding.

"I had to put my motorcycle in the university out there and walk in the floods to my house last night (Friday)," Kelapa Gading resident Najmi said.

"The water in front of my house is about one metre. We have been trapped here since yesterday morning," he told AFP Saturday.

Several other Kelapa Gading residents called ElShinta, saying some old people and pregnant women were trapped in their houses and needed evacuation.

Water, electricity supplies and telecommunications have been cut in several areas of the city due to the floods.

Search and rescue workers and nurses in inflatable boats were offering medical help to flood victims along the main Ciliwung river, Hadianto, head of the independent Jakarta Rescue group said.

"Areas that we go to are very far from the reach of cars. We have to hop from roof to roof of people's houses," he told AFP.

Hadianto said the main complaints so far were diarrhoea and skin problems, with children and old people suffering the most.

Indonesian Red Cross and other volunteers were cooking and delivering food to the thousands of people stranded in their flooded homes or sheltering at the side of roads.

City water control officials warned that the floods could worsen, with continuing rains in nearby Bogor city expected to exacerbate the situation by nightfall.

"Katulampa watergate is 70 centimetres (28 inches) above normal and the water level is rising," a Jakarta water control officer told AFP, referring to the main sluice gate controlling the flow of water from Bogor, which is at a higher elevation.

More rain was forecast over the weekend.

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar blamed the floods on excessive construction in water catchment areas, Antara reported.

"There are too many malls in the capital city," he said, complaining that many developers had not paid enough attention to the ecological impact of construction projects.

Old Batavia, the former colonial port under the Dutch from where Jakarta has expanded, was built on marshland and some areas of the capital are below sea level.

In 2002, floods killed up to 40 people and some 300,000 were forced to seek refuge in mosques, schools and even cemeteries.