JAKARTA CRIPPLED BY SEVERE FLOODING
WORLD VISION DISTRIBUTING EMERGENCY AID

US$350,000 emergency relief program in place to ease the lives of the flood victims

1. Heavy rains throughout Thursday night and Friday morning in Greater Jakarta inundated most low spots across Jakarta, crippling the capital city's activities. It was the most severe flooding incident in the last five years.
    
2. As of Monday noon (5 February), Indonesia's capital Jakarta, which has a population of some 10 million, remained underwater with floods covering half of the city. Police said 29 people have died in the disaster so far. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes, and the well off crowded into all of the hotels in the city.
    
3. World Vision relief teams are working around the clock to distribute relief aid to thousands of victims, particularly in five Area Development Programs (ADPs) and in the areas served by the Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) program. Scores of staff members have also risked their lives to rescue several staff members and their families trapped in the floods.
    
4. "At this moment, we are implementing a US$350,000 emergency relief program to ease the lives of the flood victims," Trihadi Saptoadi, World Vision Indonesia Director, said on Monday. "We will continue concentrating our support in the areas served by our ADPs."
    
5. Trihadi Saptoadi has also approved the relief team's plan to distribute 600 family packages worth about US$45,000 to flood victims in Cawang area in South Jakarta. Several neighborhoods in the area have been heavily flooded and the people are now staying in temporary shelters, including in a school compound, nearby. The team planned to distribute some of the relief goods including blankets, sarongs and raincoats. Among the other relief items to be distributed are kitchen utensils, hygiene kits, jerry cans, rice, vegetable oil, canned fish, baby kits and baby food.
    
6. Charles Sinaga, manager for World Vision projects in Jakarta, estimated between 4,000 and 5,000 of 9,100 sponsored children in Jakarta are affected by the floods. Many of them are staying in temporary shelters or with their relatives in safer places. About 1,500 schools in Jakarta have been closed since Friday.
    
7. Jimmy Nadapdap, who is coordinating the program implementation, said World Vision teams would distribute food, non-food and medicine to some 7,300 families or approximately 25,000 people within the week. "We will distribute the aid to flood victims in Cawang, Kebon Pala, Cipinang Melayu, Cilincing and Susukan. The FSN project will also distribute aid to its beneficiaries in severely flooded areas, such as in Cipinang Besar, which were severely affected by the floods. We will also continue our assessment at the other heavily flooded areas to see whether we need to do more programs for the victims these coming days," said Jimmy.
    
8. "Today (Monday), besides completing the distribution of the remaining 170 family kits in Kebon Pala, we are distributing food packages to 2,050 families in Cawang area," Nadapdap explained, adding that he was trying to further expedite the procurement process and task distribution among the team members to further smooth aid distribution in the coming days. He added that the FSN team was also completing baby kit distributions to 1,300 families.
    
9. An officer at the Jakarta flood information centre said that over a half, and even up to 75 percent of Jakarta was still flooded. Water levels remained high at some places as heavy downpours still fell throughout Greater Jakarta, particularly the higher lands south of the city, in the last three days. While at some places waters started receding, they were rising at other places. Kuningan area, the most prestigious office district in central-part of Jakarta, was still crippled Monday as cars still could not pass through the area. Kelapa Gading area, the largest middle-upper housing complex, remained flooded.
    
10. The Meteorology and Geophysics Office said heavy downpours would continue up to 7 February. It also predicted higher than average rains up to two weeks.

World Vision Indonesia Communications Manager, Hendro Suwito is available for media interviews. Please contact World Vision International - Singapore to facilitate media contacts with our spokepersons on the ground. Photos and video footages are also available upon request.

Anyone wishing for more information on the crisis may visit www.worldvision.org.sg, or call Tel: 6221 1040 for more information and daily updates.

Media Contact Person

Ms Mindy Chee
Communications Manager
World Vision International - Singapore
Tel: 6221-1040
mindy@worldvision.org.sg