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s many as 11 residents of Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta, have been received treatment for rashes following contact with moth caterpillars, the infestation that has recently reached several areas in the capital city.

Jakarta Health Agency chief Dien Emmawati said on Friday that the rashes were not severe. “It’s categorized as light. We have given them medicine and talcum powder and sent them home.”

Dien said the residents received the treatment free of charge.

Caterpillars’ have recently infested 15 districts in Java, Bali, East Lombok, Bekasi, West Jakarta and North Jakarta.

The City Maritime and Agricultural Affairs Agency stated in its press release that it opted to address five ways to control the infestation such as monitoring caterpillar populations on tree leaves and exterminating the caterpillars and those which are still in chrysalis form.

The agency also used fungi that were deadly to insects such as Metarhizium sp., Beauveria sp. and Verticillium sp., spraying insecticide and identifying the caterpillars by using biology, agronomy and ecology for a long-term solution.

Many Jakartans were wary of the stinging-haired creatures and demanded that the infested trees be cut down, a demand counterproductive to the campaign of replanting the city.

On Friday, residents of Jl. Sekretaris in Tanjung Duren were witnessed becoming hysterical after spotting the caterpillars in trees.

“They come out at night. Spraying and cutting the branches does not work,” said resident Tugino, pointing at caterpillars swarming in a pine tree.

The 63-year-old Tugino, who has lived in the area since 1981, wanted the infested trees cut down. “The residents here are itchy all the time,” he said.

Mrs. Teguh, who had lived in the area for eight years, said the caterpillars were seasonal. “Mostly they appear during the dry season,” she said.

“But, this season is the most ever,” she said.

Commenting on how people react over the infestation, Lusia Gayatri Yosef, a psychologist at the Psychology Counseling Unit of Gajah Mada University, said people were beginning to panic, so they did not see other possible solutions. “People feel insecure when they see the caterpillars. In that depressing condition, they try to find quick solutions. The result is that they see cutting trees down as the fastest plausible solution,” she said.

Inaya Rakhmani, a media studies lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said that the media gave credit to the situation. She said that the media strengthened the story’s impact.

She added that even people in developed countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore became hysterical when hit by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.