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Senen merchants worry about future after fire
The fire this time: Shop owners and employees try to salvage their wares from a fire at Senen market in Central Jakarta on Friday
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The fire this time: Shop owners and employees try to salvage their wares from a fire at Senen market in Central Jakarta on Friday. Even though the building, Blok 3, was still on fire, some people still entered the building via the rear entrance, where the fire did less damage. (JP/DON) (JP/DON)
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span class="inline inline-none">The fire this time: Shop owners and employees try to salvage their wares from a fire at Senen market in Central Jakarta on Friday. Even though the building, Blok 3, was still on fire, some people still entered the building via the rear entrance, where the fire did less damage. (JP/DON)
Thousands of merchants who had stalls in Blok 3 at Senen market wistfully watched the market burning down and smoke billowing from the building.
Many of them had given up any idea of salvaging their wares inside their stalls, while some were still scrambling in an attempt to take whatever salvageable items they could from Blok 3, where over 2,000 of the 3,200 stalls were damaged.
Clothing merchant Dwi Jayanti, 21, said that when she heard that the market was on fire, she frantically went to the market.
'I heard the news at around 7:30 a.m. Fortunately, when I arrived the fire had not touched my stall yet, so I was able to move my goods to a safer place,' she said, adding that she had paid Rp 180 million [US$15,563] to rent her stall for one year.
Azinul, 35, Dwi's brother, said that although his goods were not burned, he could not sell them at premium prices. 'Most of the clothes were water damaged during fire-fighting efforts,' he said.
Vegetable merchant Samsudin, 54, said he could not think straight and had no idea what he would do in the following days as he fully relied on his stall to support his family.
'My daughter was to enter an economics vocational school this year. Because of this accident, I don't know how I'll pay the entrance fee,' said the merchant who sold his goods on the ground floor.
Samsudin said if he did not find a solution soon, he would return to his hometown in Bogor. 'I will probably borrow some money and return to Bogor and do whatever I can there,' he said on Friday.
One couple, Halima and Ade, both 32, who sold live fish at the market, said that they could not save any of their stock. 'All my fish died. It's given me a headache,' Ade said.
Halima said that when her family learned about the fire, they all cried because they knew that Halima and Ade depended solely on their stall for a livelihood.
'The stall was all we had. We don't know how to support ourselves now as we also have debts,' the mother of four daughters said.
Gatot Sutrisno, 48, a food vendor on the ground floor who lived near the market, said that he arrived at the scene at around 3 a.m. after a neighbor told him about the fire.
'The fire gutted the second floor and then spread to the first and ground floors, where there was a gas stove vendor. Of course, there were gas cylinders. It probably caused a bigger fire,' he stated.
Gatot, who suffered hundreds of million in losses in the incident, said he had not thought about resuming his business. 'I don't have any other source of income. I haven't thought about it yet,' he said.
He said that the city administration had planned to rebuild and redevelop the market and he acknowledged that there were mixed feelings about the plan.
'Some of the vendors are against the plan because they are worried that the rent will increase. To date, the city has yet to provide a temporary market,' Gatot said.
Halima said she suspected that the fire was started by people who wanted to get rid of the merchants because negotiations had been in progress.
'I hope the Jakarta governor, state officials or whoever will give us [fire victims] attention,' she said.
PD Pasar Jaya spokesman Agus Lamun told tribunnews.com that the accident was a pure tragedy and it had no connection to the market's planned renovation.
Jakarta Fire Department chief Subejo said that when the firefighters arrived at around 5:30 a.m., the fire had spread across the building. 'The fire probably started at around 3 a.m. and then slowly consumed the building,' he said.
Subejo said that some of the materials in the market were flammable, which helped the fire rapidly spread and destroy the building. 'Some of the merchants sold flammable goods such as clothes and textiles,' he added.
One of the firefighters, Masdi, said that when the fire started to spread, people panicked and tried to save their goods.
'There were many people coming and going. We did not know whether they were saving their goods or looting,' he said. (ask)
