The floods continue here in Jakarta with the TV showing how four houses collapsed today into the River Ciliwung as the rushing waters have undercut the river bank. And that's a five minute stroll from Jakartass Towers. For the past three or four weeks otherwise empty houses in our area have been dry havens for dispossessed families. It is these families who have now lost everything.
Floods by
Pablo Neruda The poor live on low ground waiting for the river
to rise one night and sweep them out to sea.
I've seen small cradles floating by, the wrecks
of houses, chairs, and a great rage of ash-
pale water draining terror from the sky:
this is all yours, poor man, for your wife and crop,
your dog and tools, for you to learn to beg.
No water climbs to the homes of gentlemen
whose snowy collars flutter on the line.
It feeds on this rolling mire, these ruins winding
their idle course to the sea with your dead,
among roughcut tables and the luckless trees
that bob and tumble turning up bare root.
IndoIan is an infrequent blogger nowadays, but he has posted some pictures of his family's evacuation from Kelapa Gading.
Several of our friends houses and cars were damaged and we were inconvenienced somewhat but 1000's of people lost everything - and as is typical in the developing world - it is the poor who are most effected.Meanwhile,
Brandon of Java Jive wonders how best to help the dispossessed.
I have not heard of any donation sites, nor do I truly trust the major organizations; it’s difficult to know where the money goes at times. In my case, I prefer to give directly, not through a middle-man, but I realize I have the benefit of living here.Another expat, Bleu a legal Indonesian alien in Malaysia, also offers his
thoughts on the Jakarta floods, comparing them to the
recent floods in Johor, Malaysia.
The root cause is no doubt due to corrupt practices. The government is trying to fool people by putting the blame on global warming.
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