Dam bursts near Indonesian
capital, killing 58
Torrential rain caused a
colonial-era dam to burst outside the Indonesian capital early
Friday, 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 1-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 southwestern edge of Jakarta. It collapsed
just after 2 a.m. when most people were sleeping, sending 70
million cubic feet (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 feet
(meters) from where they'd been parked.
By mid-afternoon, hundreds of
victims gathered at nearby Muhammadiyah University, which was
transformed into a makeshift morgue. Many were wailing as soldiers
and police brought in bodies, covering them in white sheets of
plastic.
Cecep Rahman, 63, lost his wife,
son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the disaster.
"I heard a crashing sound and
looked out my window," he choked. "The tide was so strong, like a
tsunami. They were swept away. ... There was nothing I could
do."
Health Ministry Crisis Center
chief Rustam Pakaya and rescue teams at the scene said at least 58
people were killed and more than 400 houses submerged, some in
water 10-feet- (about three-meters-) deep.
A 9-year-old girl was found
unconscious on one rooftop after the water receded, but she died on
the way to a hospital, said rescuer Toni Suhartono, adding the
child's parents and sister were among dozens still
missing.
The powerful current carried some
bodies several miles (kilometers), uprooted trees and completely
demolished homes, leaving only the foundations standing.
For many, the walls of water
spawned by the dam collapse triggered memories of the much more
devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed 230,000 people,
more than half of them on Indonesia's westernmost island of
Sumatra.
The Ministry of Public Works said
it will investigate what caused the disaster.
But Wahyu Hartono, a former
official at the ministry, said the 40-foot- (about 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."
Seasonal downpours cause dozens of
landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a nation of 235
million, where many live in mountainous areas or near fertile
plains.
More than 40 people were killed in
the capital after rivers burst their banks two years ago. Critics
said rampant overdevelopment, poor city planning and clogged
drainage canals were partly to blame.
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Associated Press reporters
Niniek Karmini, Zakki Hakim and Anthony Deutsch in Jakarta
contributed to this report.