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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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58 die in Indonesia as aging dam breaks
Source: Agencies |
March 28, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TORRENTIAL rain caused a colonial-era dam to burst outside the Indonesian capital early yesterday, sending a wall of muddy water crashing into a densely packed neighborhood and killing at least 58 people.
The flood left scores missing and submerged hundreds of homes. Rescuers used rubber rafts to pluck bodies from streets that were transformed into rivers littered with motorcycles, chairs and other debris.
Officials predicted that the death toll would rise and delivered more than 100 body bags to the scene.
"I'm devastated," said Cholik, 21, crying as he sat next to the body of his 54-year-old mother. His brother-in-law also was killed and his one-year-old niece was missing.
"I wasn't home last night. ... I should have been there to save them," he said.
The earthen dam, built in 1933 when Indonesia was still under Dutch rule, surrounded a man-made lake in Cirendeu on the edge of Jakarta. It collapsed just after 2am when most people were sleeping, sending 2 million cubic meters of water cascading into homes and leaving the lake almost completely drained.
Several survivors said it felt like they'd been hit by a "mini-tsunami."
Water levels were so high in some places that people waited on rooftops for rescuers. Telephone lines were toppled and cars swept away, some ending up hundreds of meters from where they'd been parked.
The Ministry of Public Works said it will investigate what caused the disaster. But Wahyu Hartono, a former official at the ministry, said the 15-meter-high dam had been poorly maintained in recent years because of budget shortfalls. After four hours of heavy rain the spillway overflowed and the base gave way.
"We need to find a way to take better care of these Dutch-era dams and dikes," he said. "Otherwise, there will be more problems like this in the future."
The flood left scores missing and submerged hundreds of homes. Rescuers used rubber rafts to pluck bodies from streets that were transformed into rivers littered with motorcycles, chairs and other debris.
Officials predicted that the death toll would rise and delivered more than 100 body bags to the scene.
"I'm devastated," said Cholik, 21, crying as he sat next to the body of his 54-year-old mother. His brother-in-law also was killed and his one-year-old niece was missing.
"I wasn't home last night. ... I should have been there to save them," he said.
The earthen dam, built in 1933 when Indonesia was still under Dutch rule, surrounded a man-made lake in Cirendeu on the edge of Jakarta. It collapsed just after 2am when most people were sleeping, sending 2 million cubic meters of water cascading into homes and leaving the lake almost completely drained.
Several survivors said it felt like they'd been hit by a "mini-tsunami."
Water levels were so high in some places that people waited on rooftops for rescuers. Telephone lines were toppled and cars swept away, some ending up hundreds of meters from where they'd been parked.
The Ministry of Public Works said it will investigate what caused the disaster. But Wahyu Hartono, a former official at the ministry, said the 15-meter-high dam had been poorly maintained in recent years because of budget shortfalls. After four hours of heavy rain the spillway overflowed and the base gave way.
"We need to find a way to take better care of these Dutch-era dams and dikes," he said. "Otherwise, there will be more problems like this in the future."
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