Preventing Floods, Garut Regency Government Immediately Empty River Borders From House Buildings

A resident walks on the lips of the Cimanuk River, Paminggir, Garut City District, Garut Regency, West Java, Thursday (21/7/2022). (ANTARA/Purnama Ferry)

GARUT - The government of Garut Regency, West Java, immediately vacated land on the river border from residents' homes to prevent flooding.

"The river border area is our concentration, how along the border there should be no houses because it is prone to flooding," said the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) who also serves as the Regional Secretary of the Garut Regency Government, Nurdin Yana, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 22.

He said the border along the river flow in the Garut urban area is a flood-prone area when it rains with high intensity.

So far, said Nurdin, residential areas in river border areas, one of which is the Cimanuk River, are often hit by floods due to overflowing river water due to high rainfall.

"Because the river border is dangerous, the residents' houses must be relocated to houses that are safe from flooding," he said.

Nurdin explained that in the 2016 Garut flood disaster, the government had relocated residents' houses on the Cimanuk River border.

But in reality, said Nurdin, currently there are still residents who return to their homes in flood-prone areas, one of which is in Kampung Cimacan, which is always severely affected when floods occur.

"Like in Cimacan it had to be emptied, it had been relocated before, but it was still there, later we will verify whether those living there were former residents or not," he said.

Efforts to change the land bordering the river must first change the regent's regulations so that the designation of the area is clear.

The government, said Nurdin, works in accordance with regulations, including changing a land must be clear in its regulations so that in the future it will not be a problem.

"We are preparing, changing related regulations in that place, including later if there are houses in border areas that are affected by floods, we will not receive assistance," he said.

Nurdin said that currently the local government is still focused on tackling areas affected by floods, such as cleaning mud and garbage materials.

In addition, he said, distributing aid to flood-affected residents by setting up public kitchens.

"After this emergency response, we will also discuss the issue of river sedimentation," said Nurdin.