Indonesia plans to disinfect flood-stricken capital
Tens of thousands of people remained camped out in shelters or under bridges in Indonesia’s flood-hit capital Jakarta today, as authorities said they would spray the city with disinfectant to prevent the spread of disease.
Overnight rains caused more floods in some areas of Jakarta, compounding the misery of thousands who have been unable to return home for more than a week after the worst flooding to hit the city in recent memory.
“My baby has gone off her food and is not sleeping,” said Nasikin, a 40-year-old man who along with 500 others is living under a bridge in east Jakarta.
“It is disgusting here. I cannot stand it anymore,” said Nasikin, who goes by a single name.
A temporary clinic was treating patients close to where Nasikin was sleeping. As in most shelters visited in recent days, he said authorities and private organisations were delivering regular supplies of food.
The floods have killed or have been cited as a factor in the deaths at least 57 people since last week, and authorities fear that cramped and unhygienic conditions in makeshift shelters across the city could spread disease.
In a devastated low-income area in south Jakarta, 37-year-old Ibrahim washed himself with contaminated well water next to a cement foundation that was once his home.
Several nearby brick houses were swept away last night by currents that left behind a jumble of broken furniture and smelly debris.
“The water was fast and frightening,” said Ibrahim, who now sleeps with his wife and two young children under a tarp on an elevated road.
“It came and suddenly destroyed our houses.”
The Health Ministry said one person had contracted a leptospirosis, a potentially fatal disease, but there had been no recorded cases of tetanus or serious waterborne diseases.
Waters have now receded across most parts of the city, allowing many residents to return and clean up, but scores of tightly packed settlements close to rivers that often suffer from floods during the rainy season remain inundated or covered in mud and debris.
Authorities said they planned to deploy fire trucks to spray disinfectant in hard-hit areas tomorrow.
“We have to clean up the city because dirt and debris have the potential to create disease,” said Rustam Pakaya, chief of the Health Ministry’s crisis centre.
At the peak of the flooding, officials said up to half of the city of 12 million and surrounding towns were inundated with up to 13 feet of water. Estimates of those forced to leave their homes were as high as 400,000 out of a population of some 12 million people.
Pakaya said around 260,000 had been able to return home.
Indonesia is hit by deadly floods each year, and Jakarta is not immune. But this year’s have been the worst in recent memory, with some 100,000 homes, shops and businesses swamped in rich and poor areas alike.
