Lisa Siregar & Greg Dunlop

Ucok, Jaka and Noval, from left, were all displaced when the dam burst (Photo: Lisa Siregar, JG)

Situ Gintung, Four Months On

Residents of Situ Gintung are rebuilding what they can of their damaged homes, but most are waiting on compensation. (Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya, JG)

Five children enjoyed an overcast afternoon flying kites on Saturday but just meters from where they played, the ground gaped like an open wound, with a 20-meter drop at the edge.

“I used to live there, near the bridge next to that mosque,” said Jaka, pointing at the remains of buildings below.

A narrow stream of muddy brown water snakes its way over the crevasse, where the Situ Gintung dam wall once held back some 2 million cubic meters of reservoir water. The dam wall collapsed on March 27 after prolonged and heavy rain, sending a torrent of water and mud through three densely packed neighborhoods. The disaster destroyed hundreds of houses and killed 101 people in Cireundeu, an urban ward of Banten with a population of around 30,000.

Jaka was fast asleep when the dam began to crumble.

“It was early in the morning, around the time for morning prayer when my dad woke us all up,” recalled Jaka, an energetic 10-year-old. “He told us to leave the house.”

When Jaka stepped out of the house, he saw that the entire community was evacuating the area. The dam wall collapsed soon after Jaka’s family left their home. The water washed away all the buildings near Jaka’s away — except for the mosque.

“Do you remember that night?” Noval, 8, asked his friends. “We couldn’t stop crying!”

Jaka and Noval’s families both lived on the slopes of the dam, below where the wall gave way causing a flash flood.

The disaster displaced about 800 people, many of whom are still living in nearby temporary shelters. About 70 families live at the Kertamukti guest house complex, about a kilometer from where the dam collapsed. Still others have moved from temporary shelters to rental accommodation, but have not yet received compensation for their homes that were destroyed.

Yanti, a 36-year-old resident, said her house was one of the first to be washed away. She now pays Rp 400,000 ($40) a month for a rented house where she lives with her husband and their four children.

Like many survivors of the disaster, she has yet to receive any of the promised financial aid from the government.

“It was said that every family would receive Rp 30 million,” Yanti said.

The area around the former dam remains home to about 1,000 people, and for many of those, being able to afford to buy a new house seems impossible.

South Tangerang Mayor Shaleh said the local government was in the process of building an apartment block in Serua as a planned future home for the families still living at Kertamukti.

The city administration has yet to receive financial aid promised by the National Disaster Management Agency to distribute to Situ Gintung survivors, he said, as another assessment is needed first to confirm that those claiming to be survivors were actually residents of the area.

Shaleh said each family with a house that was heavily damaged would receive Rp 30 million in compensation, while those who houses suffered minor damage would receive Rp 15 million. Those who had been renting would only be given Rp 5 million.

The money should cover about 265 destroyed houses, Shaleh said.

For survivors like Yanti, Rp 30 million won’t begin to replace what was lost. “I have looked up the price range and we need at least Rp 75 to 80 million to buy a house, and that’s a very small one,” she said. A house similar to what her family owned previously would cost at least Rp 100 million. Yanti also said she urgently needs money to pay rent and school costs for her children.

Kartini is a 45-year-old housewife whose family also moved from a temporary shelter to rental accommodation last week. Like Yanti, she has received no financial assistance from the government.

“My husband is an ojek [motorcycle taxi] driver, so with six children it’s very difficult for us to pay for food and transportation costs,” she said.

“We really need the money but I don’t know when we will receive it.”

Other survivors like Dahroni, 53, who still resides at the Kertamukti shelter, also continue to wait.

“I’m planning to stay here until the government finishes taking care of our houses,” he said.

“I’m grateful that I’m alive and that we have our basic needs covered, but I just feel discouraged because there’s no certainty about our houses.”

Survivors have received help with clothing, bedding and food, both from the government and through private donations, but are still waiting for the promised compensation four months after the disaster.

“If you’re going to donate some money, I’d suggest you to give it directly to us and not through Kertamukti,” said Tuti, another Situ Gintung survivor.

“It’s taking a very long time for them to give it to us.”


Dam to Be Rebuilt, Others to Be Evaluated

Janjaap Brinkman, a Dutch water engineer contracted to the World Bank, is pleased with the progress that the country has made in terms of dam safety, four months after the Situ Gintung disaster.

“I must say the central government and local government seem to be on top of things,” he said.

The cause of the disaster was a lack of maintenance, he said, partly due to confusion over who had responsibility for the reservoir. “Decentralization and the new water law created a lot of confusion,” Brinkman said.

“Nobody knew who was responsible,” he added. “It is a very difficult process for the local government to perform maintenance on a central asset.”

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) plans to check the condition of all dams in Jakarta to prevent any repeats of the Situ Gintung disaster. City officials said last week that a team of experts from Gadjah Mada University would conduct the evaluations.

The government also plans to rebuild the Situ Gintung dam beginning in October.

Pitoyo Subandrio, head of the Ciliwung-Cisadane Agency, said the reconstruction project was still at the stage of calling for tenders. “We’re trying to get a certificate for the design from the balai bendungan [dam agency],” he said.

Pitoyo has asked the local government of South Tangerang to relocate people still living on the slopes of the old reservoir so work can begin.


One Shining Moment For Young Survivors

The Kertamukti housing complex was filled with smiles on Sunday as 200 children rushed to try out brand-new bicycles.

It was one day of happiness in what has undoubtedly been a traumatic four months since the Situ Gintung disaster.

Children were among the hardest-hit victims of the dam wall collapse. Some were orphaned and many more left homeless after a flash flood swept through their homes.

On Sunday, in an event to mark National Children’s Day, state-owned oil company Pertamina gave a total of 210 new bicycles to young survivors. An organized ride was then held from the Kertamukti complex to Muhammadiyah Jakarta University and back again to the temporary shelter.

South Tangerang Mayor Shaleh said the bikes would help the children keep fit.

“Hopefully, they can ride their bikes to their nearby schools,” he said.

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