Situated in the periphery of the Cikande Industrial Estate, Barengkok hamlet has been quieter than usual, with police tape put up in several locations barring people from entering the “red zone”, or places with high Cesium-137 (Cs-137) radiation levels.

The brouhaha around the radioactive material first broke after the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found traces of Cs-137 in frozen shrimp exported by Indonesian company PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS), which is based in Cikande.

Since then, authorities determined that the man-made isotope had contaminated factories, empty land and settlement areas around the industrial estate, including Barengkok and neighboring Sadang hamlet. The government dispatched a task force of joint officials to decontaminate the area from the radioactive materials, while also relocating residents to a safer place.

One of these residents is Marwan, 55, who was relocated to nearby Bunian hamlet since last week with nearly 100 other residents of Barengkong and other hamlets, while the government task force removes the Cs-137 from their homes. Once the residents were moved, they received medical checkups.

The task force announced on Wednesday that the contamination came from the scrap metal melting process at a smelting plant owned by PT Peter Metal Technology (PMT), located within walking distance of the hamlets.