February 6 Update On Flooding In Jakarta

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000311 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SES-O, EAP/MTS, EAP/EX, S/CT, DS/IP/EAP, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/CC BANGKOK FOR COMPANY C E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC AMGT CASC PGOV ID SUBJECT: February 6 Update On Flooding In Jakarta Ref: Jakarta 0304 ¶1. Extremely heavy rains overnight were mitigated somewhat by a dry and partly sunny day in Jakarta as of 15:00 Tuesday. Morning rush-hour was difficult with standing water sporadically throughout the city, but improved as the day wore on. Meteorologists continue to anticipate further rain over the next two weeks. ¶2. Government offices, embassies and businesses remain hampered by the same conditions: reduced staffing, intermittent or incomplete utilities and transportation bottlenecks. Not much change in the political situation; managing rescue efforts, the water flow through the city and, once it's done, the cleanup are the top priorities. As before, the public remains calm, cooperative and fairly quiescent. Local staff who remember The Great Flood of 2002 see this year's deluge as decidedly worse, especially in terms of how widespread the effects of the flooding are. Much more of the city is under water than in 2002, and The Jakarta Post in an editorial yesterday called it the worst flooding in Jakarta's history. Ascertaining the numbers of displaced persons is proving an inexact science. The official GOI figure on Sunday was 200,000; the BBC is reporting 340,000 as being homeless. ¶3. The Embassy was relatively well-staffed today, with almost all Americans getting into the Embassy as well as a large number of LES staff. Facilities and Warehouse were staffed by some 70% of their FSN employees. Approximately 85% of our motor pool drivers were able to get to work. 60% of Information Service Center staff was present. Some commutes from the south of the city took two and half hours; more than double the normal commute time. ¶4. The Library of Congress office is running off of generator-supplied power. Efforts to restore power at the Navy's NAMRU2 facility were initially successful but subsequently failed; emergency power is being supplied to the critical freezer units there through a generator, and the ICASS staff is working with NAMRU2 to supply a small back-up generator in case the primary fails. ¶5. Several housing units that lost power yesterday in the early morning hours were restored in the late afternoon/early evening, and at this time there are no reports of Embassy housing units without either city power or, in a small number of cases, generator power. ¶6. Travel to and from the airport is taking an average of two-plus hours using back roads and imaginative routing (normal travel time is 45-60 minutes). ¶7. Embassy communication systems are generally working, although there are intermittent problems with phone lines. Internet is still out in many places throughout the city. The Embassy has set up some temporarily vacant housing units in the nearby Prapatan compound for use by emergency FSN staff who are not able to commute reliably. We also have MREs and cots staged at the embassy in case staff needs to seek shelter within the Chancery. ¶8. Our FSN Association is working with Management staff to identify FSNs most in need of support, and the Mission has started a drive to raise funds, food and clothing for those most in need. We will work with the Department on accessing the central FSN Support Fund if appropriate. Pascoe