It was when most people enjoyed their rest, thousands of people living in around Cikeas and Cileungsi River have to save their belongings one by one due to the sudden flood. It was about 11.00 pm, and the height of water becoming higher time by time very faster. On the other sides, in the higher region around the river, the rest people can only face the river which became more flooded than what they have expected ever. That day, the river could not flood their livings, but for the next five years, who knows?
At least that was the portraits of the circumstances of flooded areas found in the residential area around the Cileungsi river, the area which was flooded twice in less than a month. I am living in an area higher than the flooded area. The location is very near. Besides my residents, there is precisely the Cileungsi river which caused the flood in the Pondok Gede Permai and some area in Vila Nusa Indah.
Based on the interview conducted to one of the residents in Pondok Gede Permai, that area has often flooded, “There’s a 5-year-cycle flood in this area, the flood was sent from Bogor,” commented one of them, Dwi. “The flood has occurred in 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2013,” said the 22-year-old girl, Dwi Septiani, who has been living there since 1996. Supposedly, the residents’ area around the river like Pondok Gede Permai and Vila Nusa Indah, where the rice field which initially often have become flooded. Specifically for the residents of Pondok Gede Permai, this housing often becomes the target of the two burst river flowing around it, which is not just a Cikeas River, but Cileungsi River as well. “Long time ago (when the area was still rice fields), when the flood came, this area was like a very large lake,” said Kasep, the native resident. He said that this area initially became the target of the water flows since it is surrounded by higher areas. As a result, It is factually difficult to prevent the flood.
The flood that occurred some time ago has become nightmares in Jakarta and its some supporting cities like Bekasi, Depok, and Tangerang. This certainly proves the lack of people’s appreciation for the Earth. Our Earth has been created to be a proper place of creatures’ living. Ironically, people slowly can only use their brains to destroy our mother earth along with the progress of modern civilization. The modernization does not considerate the nature balance. One of the results is that disastrous events, like flood and landslide, becomes the further issues which have to be discussed. The disaster occurred without warning and it did not pay much people’s readiness.
Although local governments have tried to reduce the risk of the flood through embankment construction and flood alarm, people still could not escape from the flood risks. Moreover, the second flood occurred was not because of the perforated embankment, but because the river height was more than the embankment. Also, most of the drains surrounded the residents were still fulfilled by the mud brought in the first flood.
The urge to move to a more convenient resident area mainly has become their hopes. Unfortunately, most people are generally not classified as those that can easily afford the lands. Consequently, they can only dwell in the same place, waiting for the threat of a five-year cycle of flood rumored to be getting bigger in every five-year cycle.
As most people know, floods often left traumatized. Disaster management would merely not cover about the evacuation and logistic distributions. Besides, disaster managements require management efforts primarily to reduce disaster risk. Considering this area affected by the five-year cycle of the flood, citizens and local governments must work together to reduce flood impacts likely to be greater in the coming five years. Some of these efforts such as constructing and elevating the dikes, training people about how to respond to the early warning flood, and how to reduce the risks of after-effect disasters.
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