A flood-affected area in Manggarai, South Jakarta. Recent floods call for long-term solutions. (JG Photo/Maya Martini)
When floods arrive, issues forgotten during the rest of the year, tend to reemerge. Once a year people are united in showing solidarity to flood victims.
The question is, by donating instant food, do we contribute to tackling the heart of the problem? How much are we really helping the victims if we forget about them once the water recedes?
The cycle of floods in Jakarta and across Indonesia, present a complex situation. Fault could be placed on the victims, who often illegally live in areas next to rivers and continue to stay there despite knowing they would eventually be the first to suffer. Yet, at the same time, the blame could be laid on us, for not focusing enough on long term solutions.
Each one of us is, in some ways, responsible. Floods seem more frequent lately, yet we never seem to learn from experience.
When speaking with flood victims, contradictions remain. One of the areas frequently hit by floods is an overcrowded and far-from-livable neighborhood in Manggarai, South Jakarta, where houses that are closest to the river are almost parallel to its flowing waters. When floods strike, those houses are completely covered.
Therefore, the first question to pop up would be: why don’t the residents move somewhere else?
Housewife Reni Hermawati, originally from Bogor, has been living in the area for four years. “When we first moved to Jakarta we asked around and heard that it’s a convenient place to live,” said Reni.
“I have two children and my husband is a school gym teacher, but he works on a part time basis and only earns Rp 350,000 a month. The rent here is cheap. We wouldn’t afford to go anywhere else. Many of my neighbors are in my same economic situation and they are renting like me.”
But then when looking around the area, it’s evident that a majority of its people own mobile phones, motorbikes and TVs. When asked why they prefer to invest their money in such gadgets, rather than find a better place to live, the answers were astonishing.
“People here don’t feel the necessity to have better place to live,” said Reni. “They think about moving on with their lives and accepting destiny; floods will happen anywhere anyway.”
These frequent victims of Jakarta’s heavy rainfall should be the first and the most motivated in coming up with solutions to prevent future floods. These citizens should be preserving their environment by discouraging littering. Instead, reality seems to be far from this.
“I’m concerned, but I realize that around our neighborhood, there is not a lot of awareness on taking care of the environment,” said Reni. “Throwing garbage into the river is still very common among residents, driven by ignorance and lack of hygiene. People have always been living like this, and they can’t change.”
A large number of residents are street vendors and some are trash collectors. Seven-year-old Salwa Agus Ismi, daughter of Reni, is friend of six year old Keni, whose parents are trash collectors. “Keni’s house is very dirty,” said Salwa. “And many others are in the same situation. That’s their life.”
These problems add to the fact that many are not even properly registered as Jakarta residents.
“A large number of children don’t even have a birth certificate,” said Reni.
“Many parents don’t know how to deal with paperwork and they end up not doing any of it. Therefore, the figures registered at the government don’t accurately reflect reality.”
The matter can be a cause for concern for the unregistered children in the future. Indonesian red tape asks for a birth certificate in numerous situations, from registering at a public school to obtaining an identification card and applying for a marriage license. Without one, life becomes all the more difficult.
Lack of education is at the heart of these problems. Children need to be informed at a young age the importance of education and caring for the environment, so they may have a better life than their parents.
Meanwhile, when asked about instant food, Reni said she is aware of the dangers of eating too much of it. “We receive so many instant noodles, because those are the most practical,” said Reni. “But in reality that’s not what we need the most. We are concerned about the health of our children if they keep eating instant food. We try to cook healthier food. Also, wraps of instant noodles might just end up in the river in the end.”
There is no undisputed answer to the problem. But perhaps, as a start, we can come up with better solutions on how to help these residents on other victims of floods. We could continue to donate instant food once a year, or we could work for a long-term solution.
Whether we help by volunteering to teach environmental education to children or by helping them their birth certificates for a smoother future, our actions could bring concrete changes.
The post Ignorance to Blame for Incessant Jakarta Floods appeared first on The Jakarta Globe.