Garut Regent: Flood-Prone Villages Must Be Emptied

JAKARTA - Garut Regent Rudy Gunawan asked villages prone to flash floods such as those around riverbanks to be emptied of houses because they are dangerous.

"This must be emptied, so with this incident there is a lesson. We will do it humanely," said Rudy Gunawan when visiting flood-affected areas in Cimacan Village, Haurpanggung Village, Tarogong Kidul District, Garut Regency, Monday, July 18, quoted from Antara.

He said that the area along the Cimanuk River, one of which is in Kampung Cimacan, is an area prone to flash floods from overflowing rivers.

If the area is not immediately vacated, he said, it will certainly endanger the safety of the people living around the riverbanks.

"It must be repeated because this area (Kampung Cimacan) is a red area," he said.

He said previously that residential areas around the Cimanuk River had been relocated to landed houses during the 2016 flash flood disaster.

But in reality, he said, there are still people who return to Cimacan Village with the reason that it is close to their place of business, while the houses prepared by the government are too far away.

"They're complaining it's too far there, we'll do our best, because it's not possible to stay here," he said.

He said the local government was again making comprehensive efforts so that areas that were prone to flash floods were no longer places for residents to live.

"So later, we will comprehensively carry out problems related to our future action plans," said the Regent.

He revealed that the reason the area had to be relocated was because the location was lower than the Cimanuk River flow, so that automatically when the water overflowed it would inundate the residents' settlements.

"It's not possible here, because it's 10 meters lower than there in Maktal, eventually the water will definitely come here," he said.

The Regent added that not only the problems in Cimacan Village, but other areas will also be a concern of the government to take steps to anticipate the threat of flooding.

The current effort, he said, is that the local government is collecting data on houses affected by floods and the amount of material losses.

"We are calculating the losses but what is clear is that first there were no casualties," he said.