T

ambora resident Iis Anisah, 30, could only watch in despair as the house she rented burned to the ground on Thursday afternoon, leaving her with nothing but a house dress on her body.

Eight months into her pregnancy, Anisah had no choice but to walk from one evacuation shelter to another with her husband and five children, before settling at the Tambora District Office in West Jakarta on Sunday midday, along with 88 other fire victims.

Following the fire, which was reportedly caused by a short circuit and raged across three neighborhood units on Jl. Tambora III on Thursday, 74 families comprising 408 people now have no place they can call home.

While many of them have relatives to live with temporarily, 95 others, including Iis and her family of six, had to share a spot to live and sleep at the Tambora District Office as of Sunday.

Her family had previously evacuated to the Jakarta Catholic Church on Jl. Tambora Raya, before moving on to the Jami Mosque, one block away from the church, and finally ending up at the district office.

“I have nowhere else to go, as my parents live in a very small house in Kali Deres [also in West Jakarta] with many other family members. I cannot afford to rent a new place either,” she told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, adding that her husband did not earn much from working odd jobs.

Despite help continuously arriving at the shelter, she said she had not received uniforms and other school necessities for her children, who were about to resume school on Monday.

Another evacuee, Embay, 56, said she could not sleep after the fire had destroyed the house she had inherited from her parents in the 1980s.

She had been living in the property with her three children and 10 grandchildren, while renting out seven of its rooms.

A small shop at the front of the house, where Embay sold home-cooked food had also been razed to the ground — leaving her with no source of income.

“I keep crying at night when I remember my house, in which I had lived with my [late] parents for so long,” Embay said.

Embay’s daughter, Djum Haeriah, 38, said her family would have no place to stay once the emergency response period ended on the coming Thursday.

“My money has been burned along with the house,” she said.

Djum expressed hope that victims could receive financial aid to erect makeshift houses on the land where their houses used to stand.

Tambora district head Dwi Kurniasih said it was the first time such a big fire had engulfed the area in the five years she had been in office. She said the district office was coordinating with other authorities to meet the logistical and medical needs of the victims.

“The evacuees need to be able to stand on their own feet sooner or later. We will decide whether the emergency response period needs to be extended,” Dwi said.

In a separate incident on Friday night, 92 families of 365 people lost their homes to a fire that killed one person and gutted 40 makeshift houses in Jelambar, West Jakarta. That blaze is also believed to have been caused by a short circuit.

Two tents have been erected for the Jelambar victims.

“We will discuss with the Tambora and Jelambar district offices whether to extend the seven-day emergency response period based on the needs of the evacuees,” West Jakarta disaster response team coordinator Muhammad Idris said. (ars)