Ryan Septian, a 28-year-old from Kemang, South Jakarta, whose residence was inundated during massive floods that hit Greater Jakarta on Jan. 1, did not think his documents that were damaged by floodwater could be saved.

However, thanks to the services of the National Archives (ANRI) in Cilandak, South Jakarta, his documents have been restored.

“I’m so relieved that I was able to restore my documents. It’s a free, quick and simple service,” Ryan told The Jakarta Post after his documents were restored on Wednesday, while showing his restored marriage book.

After sustaining water damage days earlier, the book’s front and back covers were wet, muddy and shabby. It took 10 minutes for the restoration team to dry the book out and remove the dirt to restore the shape.

The team also applied extra protection to the front and back cover as well as several pages by using a technique called “encapsulation”.

With encapsulation, polyester plastic is applied to both sides of the cover and pages, then sealed with double-sided tape. The technique is applied to protect documents such as family cards, diplomas and land certificates.

However, the restoration team cannot restore documents to their original state. They cannot restore the writing on a document that has turned blurry by floodwater, for example.

In addition, documents that are physically damaged beyond repair cannot be restored. Such are the conditions of the documents that Akbar, 38, brought to the ANRI building.

Although he brought three bags of documents that were damaged by the flood at his house in Bintaro, South Tangerang, the restoration team was only able to restore about half of the documents.

Akbar said the other documents had sustained greater damage.

He said among the documents he brought included vehicle ownership documents, a land certificate and deeds of sale and purchase. The team rejected several of them.

“They said some of the documents were too damaged [...]. They also did not accept laminated documents,” Akbar said.

ANRI preservation director Kandar confirmed that the restoration team could not restore laminated documents because opening up the lamination could potentially damage the content.

Despite the restrictions, Kandar said the team had accepted hundreds of documents to restore since it started offering the service on Jan. 2.

“We have accepted documents from 188 people. Most of them are flood survivors from Jakarta, Bekasi and Depok,” he said. “The most common documents are passports, marriage books and certificates, insurance policies and family cards.”

However, Kandar said the team could only restore documents that people brought with them and that his team could not restore heavily damaged documents or recreate lost documents.

Because of that, Kandar said the team would issue a recommendation letter for the visitors so that they could recreate the new documents at their respective origins.

He advised people to photocopy important documents or take pictures of them as a means of backup to ensure smooth recreation.

Kandar also advised them to protect documents by means other than lamination.

“I urge them to apply the encapsulation method because it protects the documents from physical and water damage, and it’s easy to remove with scissors. Plus, everyone can do it at home easily,” he said.

The restoration service is open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Jl. Ampera Raya No. 7, Cilandak, South Jakarta, and is not solely for victims of natural disasters.

Kandar said the team would continue the restoration service even after the massive flooding across Greater Jakarta came to an end.

“Everyone can bring their documents here for restoration on any occasion and it will always be free of charge,” he continued. (hpw)

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