Officers Prioritize Evacuation Of Elderly And Baby Victims Of Rawajati Flood South Jakarta

Evacuation Officer for the elderly victims of the Rawajati flood in South Jakarta/ Photo: ANTARA

JAKARTA The South Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat) focused on evacuating the elderly, babies, and sick residents when the flood submerged the Rawajati Village area, Pancoran District. The water level in this location reaches three meters due to the overflow of the Ciliwung River.

"We have evacuated from babies to the elderly, including residents who are sick," said Head of South Jakarta Gulkarmat Sector Pancoran Sector, Imbang Satriana, in Jakarta, Tuesday, March 4.

The evacuation process has been ongoing since 05.30 WIB, starting from the area under the Kalibata flyover. Until now, the Gulkarmat team continues to move to save the affected residents.

"There have been seven people who have been evacuated, and now we are preparing to save nine others who are still trapped," he added.

One of the priorities for evacuation is a five-month-old baby who was trapped with his family. "Her mother asked for help, and we immediately coordinated with the team to evacuate the baby to a safer place," explained Imbang.

However, the evacuation process faced obstacles, especially because of the large number of narrow alleys with fences that hindered the movement of rubber boats. As a result, one of Gulkarmat's boats suffered a leak and could not be reused.

As of 10.00 WIB, the DKI Jakarta BPBD noted that there were still seven RTs in Rawajati that were flooded with water levels between 170 and 350 cm. This flood was triggered by heavy rains that flushed since Monday (March 3) and caused the Ciliwung River to overflow.

Officers continue to try to evacuate residents to safer locations while waiting for the receding of the puddles.