Jakarta staat voor driekwart onder water
De watersnood in de Indonesische hoofdstad Jakarta is in het weekeinde verergerd. Het dodental steeg tot zeker 25 en 340.000 mensen hebben hun huis moeten verlaten.
De overheid heeft medische teams met rubberboten de zwaarst getroffen wijken in gestuurd omdat gevreesd wordt voor het uitbreken van besmettelijke ziekten door gebrek aan schoon drinkwater.
Jakarta wordt in het regenseizoen geregeld getroffen door overstromingen, maar deze zijn de ergste sinds mensenheugenis. In sommige wijken, zowel arme als rijke, staat het water vier meter hoog en hebben de autoriteiten water en elektriciteit moeten afsluiten.
Op sommige plaatsen leek het water zondag iets te zakken, maar op andere plaatsen deden zich nieuwe overstromingen voor tengevolge van zware regen in het zuidelijke heuvelland. Maandag stond nog ongeveer 75 procent van de stad onder water. De meteorologische dienst voorspelt dat het nog twee weken zal blijven regenen.
Milieuregels
Milieuminister Racmat Witoelar schreef de watersnood toe aan overtreding van de milieuregels bij de uitgifte van bouwvergunningen. Volgens gouverneur Sutiyoso van Jakarta, die onder zware kritiek kwam toen zich vijf jaar geleden overstromingen voordeden, is ontbossing in de omgeving van de hoofdstad, waardoor afwateringsgebieden verloren zijn gegaan, de oorzaak.
ZIE OOK: Indonesiërs massaal op de vlucht voor water
Disease fears in flood-stricken Indonesia
Filthy flood water inundated large parts of Indonesia’s capital today, sparking fears that killer diseases may spread among nearly 340,000 people forced from their homes by the worst flooding to hit the city in recent memory.
At least 29 people have drowned or been electrocuted since rivers broke their banks on Thursday after days of torrential rain in Jakarta and hills to its south, police said. Hundreds of thousands of residents remain without electricity and water.
The sky cleared today and storm waters receded in some parts of the city of 12 million people. Residents in some districts were able to begin cleaning out their homes.
But the country’s meteorological agency predicted more rain over coming days, and officials warned more floods were possible because river levels were still high.
“I really hope the forecast is wrong,” said Jayeng, 45, as Muslim activists handed out cups of hot milk to children at a shelter where hundreds have been sleeping under leaky covers. “We are still afraid the water might rise again,” said Jayeng, who uses a single name.
Landslides and flash floods during the wet season kill hundreds in Indonesia every year.
The capital is not immune, but it has rarely – if ever – seen floods as bad as those in recent days, which have washed into rich and poor districts alike, as well as scores of markets, schools and businesses.
Poor, low-lying river areas – where thousands of people are crammed into shacks constructed of plywood and metal sheeting – are often the most devastated and were today only accessible by boat.
Environmentalists blame the annual flooding on clogged storm drains and rivers, poor urban planning and deforestation of hillsides south of the city, often to make space for the development of luxury villas.
Soldiers and emergency workers on rafts rescued scores of people who fled to upper stories to escape waters as deep as 12ft. Other residents rented horse-drawn carriages to ford flooded streets or were pulled to dry land in rubbish carts.
The government dispatched medical teams on rubber rafts to worst-hit areas, where doctors treated people for diarrhoea, skin diseases, respiratory problems and exposure after they had spent days in damp, dirty clothes.