Fears grow for Jakarta dam victims

29/03/2009| IslamWeb

Rescue workers searching for more than 100 people missing after a dam burst in Indonesia fear they may have died.

Soldiers and police continued to scour through mud and debris in Jakarta, the country's capital, on Saturday in a bid to find those unaccounted for after floodwaters killed at least at least 91 people and demolished hundreds of houses a day earlier.

Priyadi Kardono, a rescue services spokesman, said on Saturday: "We fear most of the 102 reported missing have been killed.

"We've evacuated almost all of the survivors from their houses."

The dam is believed to have burst after days of torrential rain led to a large lake bordering the low-lying residential area of Cirendeu flooding.

A huge section of the 76-year-old, Dutch colonial-era dyke gave way, causing more than two million cubic meters of water to cascade through the breach.

Authorities blamed

Residents have blamed authorities for failing to repair the dam after it was weakened by previous floods.

Aldi Rojadi, 34, whose house was damaged, said there have been reports of leaks for years and that someone should be held accountable.

The ministry of public works has promised to investigate the claim.

Rohmat, a 30-year-old man whose house was also damaged, said: "Whenever these things happen, officials throw around blame, but really, what can we do about it? Nothing. We just have to accept it," he told the AP news agency.

Wahyu Hartono, a former ministry of public works official, blamed budget shortfalls for the disaster.

He said: "We need to find a way to take better care of these Dutch-era dams otherwise there will be more problems like this.''

Rescue operation

Most of the water had receded on Saturday, leaving behind streets covered in mud and debris.

Cars that had been parked in driveways were swept hundreds of meters away and streets were strewn with residents' personal belongings.

Some residents left homeless stayed in a university hall on higher ground.

Abdul Hamid, a resident, said: "What we urgently need are mattresses, blankets and clothes.

"I don't have anything anymore - all I had was swept away by the water. I don't have clothes for my children and my grandchildren."

Hundreds of people have gathered to identify victims at Muhammadiyah University, which has been made into a makeshift morgue.

Rustam Pakaya, an official with the government crisis centre, said four field hospitals had been set up to accommodate more than 180 wounded people, some with broken bones, head wounds and severe cuts.

'Mini-tsunami'

Some residents said they had been overwhelmed by the scale of the flooding after the dam burst.

"It was like being in the middle of a tsunami," Minu, a local resident told Detikcom, a news website.

"People were screaming, 'The water's coming in, the water's coming in!' and our dog was barking."

Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia during the wet season, which falls around the northern hemisphere's summer.

Floods in the capital left more than 50 people dead in 2007.

Critics said overdevelopment, poor city planning and clogged drainage canals were partly to blame.

PHOTO CAPTION

Residents stand neat the dam that burst in outskirt of Jakarta March 28, 2009.

Al-Jazeera