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ccompanied by her son, Sonia Andriyani, a 38-year-old textile vendor, sat by dusty piles of curtains and towels on Saturday afternoon while around her people were busy transporting various goods that had been rescued from the fire that gutted their stalls at Senen Market in Central Jakarta.

'€œMost of my merchandise was taken to the home of one of my staff yesterday. This is what remains,'€ she said.

Sonia is one of the lucky vendors who were able to save their goods before the fire gutted at least 2,000 stalls in Blok 3 on Friday morning.

Although her goods were safe, Sonia said she still did not know how to restart her business.

'€œI don'€™t have another stall anywhere else and it is not easy to find a stall,'€ she said.

Sonia said, however, that she had bought a lot of stock ahead of Idul Fitri in July, so she hoped the city administration would find a suitable place for her to reopen her business.

'€œI hope the administration will build a temporary market close to the building, so our customers can find us easily,'€ she said.

Sonia, who bought her stall in 1999, said she and other stall holders would gather some time soon to decide what they were going to do.

The blaze at the market was apparently caused by an electrical short circuit. It took more than 12 hours for 350 firefighters to bring the fire under control.

Most of the merchants are bewildered about how and where to continue their businesses. Those who were able to rescue their stock hope the city administration will provide a temporary market near the old building, so they will not lose customers.

Herman, a 49-year-old tailor, said he would first bring all his equipment and fabric to his home in Kemayoran near Senen.

'€œI have not thought about my business future. All I can think about now is informing my customers about the situation,'€ he said.

Herman said he had asked all his customers whose clothes could be rescued to take their orders to the front yard of the building.

'€œThank God I was able to save finished items,'€ he said while wrapping a customer'€™s batik shirt.

The tailor, who opened his business in the market in 1980, said he hoped the city administration would provide a temporary market nearby with affordable rents.

'€œI only paid Rp 6 million [US$ 519] a year to market operator PD Pasar Jaya. It would be difficult to find rents that cheap anymore,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, 64-year-old stall holder Soko said he hoped the city administration would determine where the temporary market would be.

'€œI welcome their good intentions but please give us certainty,'€ he said.