Residents unprepared for early floods

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite warnings of possible imminent major flooding from the Meteorology and Geophysics Bureau (BMG), few subdistrict administrations have prepared contingency plans or warned residents of the danger.

Authorities in flood-prone Manggarai in South Jakarta said they had yet to intensify activities in anticipation of the floods.

"One of our dinghies is currently being repaired so we only have one that works," head of the subdistrict youth organization Karang Taruna, Boedi Vincent, said.

Karang Taruna organized members to help residents during Jakarta's last major floods.

"We have not done much to prepare yet," another member of the organization, Budi, said, "but I think we will hold a meeting about it soon."

Sumini who has lived on Jl. Manggarai Utara I since 1981, several hundred meters from Karang Taruna's office, said she was not aware of imminent flooding.

She said no one had warned her before the previous floods, nor had she received any help from district officials in the aftermath.

The last major floods in early February this year inundated 70 percent of the city and claimed the lives of 48 people.

Roni, a resident of Bukit Duri in South Jakarta, which was heavily affected in the same floods, said he was not given any warnings.

"Residents usually observe the height of the Ciliwung River early in the year when floods usually occur. I don't think people have done this yet because we have never seen floods at the end of the year," Roni, whose two-story house was submerged in February's floods, said.

"We usually start (monitoring the river) in December to for the next year's floods which usually come either in January or February ... the height of Ciliwung River is normal now," a flood emergency worker in Bukit Duri, Suryanto, said.

Haryoko, a flood emergency worker in Cipinang, East Jakarta, said he would organize a meeting to discuss floods next week.

"Many residents were taking their Idul Fitri holiday over the last two weeks, so we couldn't organize it earlier," he said.

Haryoko's own home is usually flooded several times a year.

BMG last month warned that eastern Jakarta, including Cipinang and Cipayung, would be worst affected in the coming floods.

The city administration has prepared 3,500 staff from search and rescue teams, the Indonesian Red Cross, the police and the military to evacuate residents.

Jakarta's public works agency has begun dredging rivers and fixing blocked sewers in preparation for the flood season.

The state electricity company has also taken precautionary measures to protect substations in several areas which were affected in the previous floods.

"It will be one and half meters ... presently it is only half a meter (off the ground)," a worker at an electricity substation in Manggarai said.