Flash Flood in Jakarta, Indonesia by Kathyrn Bustard February 21, 2007

On January 2nd, 2007 fifty-seven people were killed by a flash flood tragedy, and the death poll is still rising. The floods ripped many buildings apart and drowned many villages. Survivors scrambled to the second stories of their homes and awaited help without any use of phone service. Jumiin, a local of the islands stated, “I thought it was the end of the world when the floods attacked houses and shops in my village,” a survivor sheltering at a local school. “Thank God, we managed to save ourselves.” Dead chickens, diseases and contaminated, brown water fill most of the streets of Indonesia. In Central Jakarta, residents had mud and garbage covering their homes and streets. Farmers were awfully affected by the floods, losing all their crops and plants. “I have nothing,” said Marda, 43. “The plants, all the money that went to buying fertilizer, hiring mini-tractors. Gone.” The farmers don’t have anything left and will have to start all over. Most of the farmers are sitting by the muddy road, desperately begging for food.
Thirty-six of the fatalities were by electrocutions, therefore the government shut off the electricity. Clean water was also off and thousands of people were forced to leave their underwater, tattered homes. “I’m thinking about all my valuable things, because all my house is flooded. Only the roof is visible,” said Wijiwati, a woman in North Jakarta. Many banks were closed, and survivors afraid of food shortages piled up on food from the grocery store. The grocery stores are now empty except for the rotting vegetables and fruit.
The hospitals are extremely crowded with patients. Emergency supplies were sent with rice and noodles. Illnesses caused by rats and polluted water are spreading. People have been infected with leptospirosis, typhoid, dysentery, and many of the child patients have diarrhea. There is enough medicine, but some of the hospitals do not even have enough doctors, nurses, and beds. Some residents are staying in with neighbors, schools, and anyplace they can find. Augustina Rusli stated, “The government is awful,” who spent four days on the second floor of her suburban house with her 10-month-old baby. “We have a neighbor who is sick with cancer, but no one has come to rescue her.” Another man believed that they should have been warned and that nobody should have died. Tropical downpours, floods, and landslides occur every year in the archipelago of these 17,000 islands.