Oxfam Offers Hygiene Kits and Clothing as People Clean up after Jakarta Flood
15 February 2007
Clean water, bedding, sarongs, sandals—residents in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta need many basics as they dig out from the mire deposited by the flash floods and mud slides that poured through their neighborhoods earlier this month.
Clean water, bedding, sarongs, sandals—residents in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta need many basics as they dig out from the mire deposited by the flash floods and mud slides that poured through their neighborhoods earlier this month. Oxfam and its local partner, Global Rescue Network, have stepped in to meet some of those needs.
The worst flooding to hit the city in five years left an estimated 300,000 people displaced—with weather forecasters warning that there could be more floods in the coming weeks. Though the water has now receded, a daunting clean-up task remains: piles of furniture, clothes, and household goods covered in a thick layer of mud clog the streets. And with limited access to clean water, residents fear an outbreak of disease.
“I do not know what to do with my furniture and belongings,” said Cut Zainah, standing next to a heap of her mud-coated belongings and hoping that she would be able to clean and salvage some of them. “We need garbage trucks to collect the waste and clean water to clean and disinfect our homes.”
Water and sanitation services are among the relief efforts Oxfam and its partners are providing in neighborhoods that have received little or no assistance. The agencies are also giving priority to people who have lost their homes as well as to the elderly and families with young children.
As residents of the Kerobon-baru subdistrict in South Jakarta waited anxiously in line, a team from the Global Rescue Network handed out truckloads of hygiene kits containing basics such as soap, toothbrushes, and sanitary napkins. Oxfam and its partners have distributed nearly 3,000 of the kits as well as thousands of sarongs and sandals.
“The floods took all of my belongings,” said Linda Arini. “I had nothing left, apart from what I was wearing. The hygiene kits for my family are important because they can help prevent health hazards.”
One young man, standing ankle deep in mud, said he had not expected the flooding to be so severe.
“I am now sad to see the condition of my house and my neighborhood,” said the man, Lutfi, who had taken the precaution of moving all of his belongings to the second floor of the house in Tanjung Sanyang on the eastern side of the city when he saw that heavy rains had caused the rivers to overflow their banks. Late in the night, as the flood hit, Lutfi and his wife and three children awoke to the sound of gushing water. It rose—as it has in the past—and submerged the first floor. But this time, it didn’t stop.
“When I realized that the floods had reached the second floor, I knew that I had to quickly take my family and move them to a safer place,” said Lutfi. “What we urgently need now is access to clean water, sleeping mattresses, and also food for my children.”
Global Emergencies Fund
Oxfam America's Global Emergencies Fund is responding to this crisis with aid to Indonesians affected by these floods. Please consider making your secure online donation to this fund today.
