The Adventure Of Children At Manggarai Water Gate In Facing Floods

Adam and the Catched Monitor Lizard (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - Children always have a way to bestow the application of flooding in their neighborhood. Playing in flood waters to catching fish or reptile animals such as lizards and monitor lizards, which are also swept away by the swift flood.

One of them is like Adam, a child who lives in the Manggarai area, Central Jakarta. He found a baby lizard measuring about 15 cm and a tail of 30 cm in the river near the Manggarai Water Gate.

With a happy face, Adam told VOI. On January 2 at noon that day, he and his playmates were enjoying watching the process of handling the garbage blocking the river flow.

His gaze was then stunned at a baby lizard perched on a pile of wood. Driven by the desire to become a reptile lover, Adam borrowed a float belonging to a PPSU officer on site to pick up the lizard.

With the intention, Adam stepped on a pile of wood and immediately caught the green patterned animal. "The lizard is still sitting on a pile of wood. I can't swim, that's why I just borrowed the buoy from the officer. But I'm not afraid, what is important is that I can get this," said Adam while stroking the lizard he was holding.

Adam has a special reason why he intends to take the lizard from the garbage heap. All this he did so he could feel the sensation of being Panji Adventurers, his idol character.

It is known that Panji Petualang is an animal lover, who used to have an adventure program on television. Currently, Panji regularly creates video content about reptile animals on his YouTube account.

Condition of Manggarai Water Gate (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

From this spectacle, Adam felt that being a reptile lover with high courage was a pretty cool figure. After this, Adam will raise the lizard baby at his house.

"I want to keep this, so that it is like Panji Petualang. Who knows, I will meet Panji later. I will tell you that we are reptile lovers," Adam said proudly.

From watching Panji Petualang's YouTube content too, Adam knows that lizard pet food is not difficult to find. All he has to do is come to the market and buy crickets or chicken meat.

"The lizard is still small. The nails are not too sharp, it doesn't hurt too much if you bite it. Well, at most my hands are scratched a little, but that's okay," Adam said as he brought the lizard closer to us, gesturing for us to try stroking it.

Feelings of dread approached us when we tried to touch the lizard's scalp. What we are worried about is that the lizard struggles and then scratches its hand. However, it turns out that these reptiles are quite calm and do not resist when touched.

Before being brought home, Adam gave the name of his new pet. "I want this lizard to give the name Juned," said Adam.

It turned out that Juned was the name of a friend who was beside him. Suddenly, the friend was angry at the name of the monitor lizard, and Adam just laughed back at him.

Disaster Trauma Recovery

The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) and the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) have deployed 11,000 volunteers to help refugees due to flooding in Jakarta and its surroundings. Both psychological and logistical assistance they mobilized to relieve the trauma of the disaster.

"We are both concerned and from the Ministry of Health mobilizing health assistance, so that disease outbreaks do not appear after the flood. For psychological treatment, we are moving friends from health centers and TNI-Polri to help recover flood victims from trauma," said Minister of Health Terawan. Agus Putranto.

Psychological assistance, he said, was given to avoid the impact of confusion and trauma for children and parents because they had to flee their homes.