Based on a report released by the advocacy team — which asked Jakartans to email the losses they had incurred because of the massive flooding — the losses from 243 verified reports amounted to Rp 43.32 billion.
uring the massive flooding that swept Jakarta over the New Year, Suminem Patmoswito, 60, lost hundreds of millions of rupiah worth of valuables, quite apart from the loss of income from not being able to operate her small grocery stall after her house in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta was submerged by floodwater.
Suminem had to flee to her rooftop where she did not eat for an entire day because help was not available. She distributed what food she had among her neighbors using make-shift equipment as it was impossible for her to get around the streets of the flooded neighborhood.
A little over a week after the disaster struck, she stood as a representative of South Jakarta’s flood victims along with the 2020 Jakarta Flood Victims Advocacy Team and four other victims, each representing one of Jakarta’s regions, to file a class action lawsuit against the Jakarta administration for failing to protect citizens from a supposedly preventable disaster.
“My hope is for there to be [more] attention paid to people on the ground. Please visit and ask the residents so that you [Governor Anies Baswedan] will know for yourself,” said Suminem on Monday at the Central Jakarta District Court, adding that the demand for compensation was necessary so that she could work again and support her 74-year-old husband and their children.
Another representative of flood survivors from Cengkareng, West Jakarta, Juwita Sri Agustina, said she did not have access to sanitary facilities for two days because clean water was not available. In addition to that, the electricity went off for days and did not return until Jan. 4, Juwita noted.
“I am asking the governor to focus more on his duty. Regardless of whether [I] chose him or not, I am a citizen of Jakarta and I also have the right to [demand] the governor work for the betterment of the people,” said the 50-year-old who lives with five others, including her paralyzed mother, in a house that was flooded during the first few days of January.
Kelapa Gading resident Melilly Sabe, 55, who stood as a representative of North Jakarta’s flood victims, claimed the New Year flood caught her off guard and her family was shocked at having to endure such massive flooding in a short time following the downpours that began on New Year’s Eve and lasted through to the next day. She claimed to have lost up to Rp 300 million (US$21,959) worth of valuables.
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