Friday, February 9, 2007

Floods in Jakarta, February 2007

This year's floods has been devastating for most parts of Jakarta. It's been said that half of the city was covered with up to four meters of water.

I took these two pictures on my way to campus on February 5 (Yeah, eventhough the city was full of water, we still had our final exams -_-"). These are scenes from Grogol, close to Ciputra Mall. More than 500 people were living under bridges in other parts of Jakarta. The number of deaths during this disaster is at least 57 people, but that's not all. Many people caught diseases from the dirty water and the poor condition they were in. According to the news, one person had contracted leptospirosis, a potentially fatal disease borne by water contaminated by rat urine, but so far there are no cases of tetanus or other serious waterborne disease.

The scarcity of food was easily seen. People had trouble getting something to eat. Both the traditional markets and supermarkets were swamped by people. Everyone bought all they can get so they would have food stocked at home.



These are the condition at Carrefour supermarket in Mega Mall, North Jakarta on February 3. Almost all fresh food products are gone: breads, veggies, meats, etc.

Well, The flooding is over, the city is now in recovery, disinfectant is scheduled to be sprayed, dirt and debris will also be cleaned to prevent diseases.