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Situ Gintung Disaster Death toll reaches 97 as blame game starts
Three days after the disaster, Tangerang officials and councilors have yet to come up with an explanation of who should be held responsible for the Situ Gintung flash flood that killed at least 97 people
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Three days after the disaster, Tangerang officials and councilors have yet to come up with an explanation of who should be held responsible for the Situ Gintung flash flood that killed at least 97 people.
Some have pointed the finger at weak coordination between the government and the local administration that led to inadequate maintenance; while others have blamed the proliferation of housing estates near the lake that reduced its capacity.
“The authority to manage and maintain Situ Gintung is in the hands of the Banten provincial irrigation agency, but technically the Ciliwung-Cisadane Center is also responsible,” councilor Jacky Zakaria Harahap said Sunday.
He added the Tangerang regency Building and Spatial Planning Agency should also feel the heat for issuing numerous building permits for areas around the lake.
Councilor Togu Pardamaian Tobing said the authority to manage small lakes in Tangerang had always been a bone of contention between the government and the provincial administration.
“It’s clear the maintenance of small lakes was the responsibility of the Banten administration,” he said.
Last year, the government spent Rp 1.5 billion on the normalization of Situ Gintung. The Ciliwung-Cisadane Center, which handled the project, built an additional embankment for a jogging track on the lake’s eastern shore, rather than repair the leaking spillway.
“There was no problem with the spillway at all at the time, that’s why we built up the embankment, to prevent the water from spilling into the eastern part,” the head of the center, Pitoyo Subandrio, said Sunday.
He blamed the collapse of the Situ Gintung spillway on the inability of the lake to absorb heavy rainfall of up to 165 millimeters for five hours before Friday’s tragedy.
“Situ Gintung had shrunk from 38 to 21 hectares, and it had to absorb the volume of three months’ worth of rainfall all at once. The inflow was much bigger than the outflow, so the embankment could no longer hold the water,” he said.
The disaster has prompted NGOs to urge the government to closely monitor other lake embankments.
Selamet Daryoni, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Jakarta, said some lakes in Banten and Bogor were prone to bursting their banks due to a lack of maintenance.
“One of these is Situ Pondok Genda in Banten, which is located on the side of a road in a hilly area,” he said, adding that Situ Kedaung in Banten, and Situ Cibinong and Situ Lebak Wangi in Bogor also needed extra care.
Poor maintenance of the lakes, especially those located in hilly areas, could lead to the same scenario as at Situ Gintung, he warned.
Selamet also pointed out the importance of an early warning system for residents living near sluice gates or embankments.
“The early warning system is important, especially when the rainy season comes. Local communities, the administration and the public works agency should work hand in hand to keep an eye on the embankments,” he said.
Selamet said lakes in the city were getting shallower and more damaged at alarming rates, with many even being used as garbage dumps.
As of Sunday evening, the death toll from the Situ Gintung disaster had reached 97, while more than 100 people are still reported missing.
Hundreds of residents have been treated at seven health posts in the area, while two had to be hospitalized. There were 1,600 displaced people at the makeshift tents near the site.
