surabaya,flood, After Flood, the Misery Comes (2, the end) VHRmedia.com

Many elements from society built emergency posts and tents for refugees, as the water inundated thousands of houses. The Natural Disaster Mitigation task force suddenly moved to build public cuisine and distribute aids to the people who became victims of the flood.

 

The aids distribution then caused a little problem. The residents said that they have not got aids from the government yet. They only got helped from other residents who feel empathy for them, or their relatives who live in free-flood area.

 

Looking to the condition, questions on what is the real cause of flood. One of the causes is human doing who makes the environment in damage. But, who has to take the biggest responsibility for this disaster? Is it the government, entrepreneurs, or the people themselves?

 

The acting East Java Governor Setia Purwaka accused the 7,000 buildings on the Kali Surabaya riverside as the main cause of the flood. He ordered every employee in Surabaya and Gresik administration to make the riverside free from any kind of building.

 

Setia Purwaka said that the Local Regulation No. 7/2007 about the Management of Kali Surabaya and Wonokromo regulates the riverside to be free from buildings, which is 5 meter from the river. In fact, the ideal ‘free zone’ is 25 meter. “So, I asked to the related bureaus to curb the buildings, particularly the illegal ones,” he said.

 

Executive Director of Ecological Observation and Wetlands Observation (Ecoton) Prigi Arisandi accused the East Java administration has failed to maintain the preservation on the Kali Surabaya riverside. Permits for building factories and public facilities are very easy to be obtained, and it caused the flood. In his note, there had been 4 commercial buildings build along the Kali Surabaya riverside in January 2009. The buildings are: futsal pitch, located under the Waru highway bridge in Gunungsari; futsal pitch belongs to PT Suparma in Warugunung, Karangpilang, Surabaya; Desa Cangkir market in Driyorejo, Gresik; and a building belongs to PT Multi Manau Indonesia in Driyorejo, Gresik.

 

This institution, which concerns about ecology and conservation on wet land, has sent their reports to the Bureau of Public Works Irrigation in East Java, but they never give any respond to these reports. Prigi Arisandi assumed that there is a ‘game’ behind the permits for building along the Kali Surabaya riverside, mainly for factories and public spaces.

 

Prigi explained that the province administration should be strict to those who violated the regulation, as he referred to the Local Regulation No. 23/2000 about the Bureau of Public Works Irrigation in East Java. The bureau has authority to give permits to build, renovate, or even demolish building which is located in, on or over the water resource or irrigation channel across districts/cities.

 

If a mistake happens continually and systematically like that, poor people will be the victims by and by. And we may not hope for being free from flood. (The End)