Flooding in Jakarta...not Lippo Karawaci

Last night we heard of a flood that has occurred in our area, and according to the Jakarta Globe newspaper it was a burst dam that killed almost 60 people. Aside from the fact that this is a tragedy in itself, when you live in the area and see the neglect of things like roads and watersystems, the tragedy lies in the fact that something like this is preventable. Also, when you read in the paper of the neighbours living within 1 mile (one single mile) of the destruction, who survive because they live in cement, 2-story houses, it just seems so (I am searching for the best word and there may not be one) ...wrong. One of my favourite scenes in all of the places I have visited in Indonesia is a view from the 11th floor of the building where our church is held. The reason I love it so much is because of the visual of the irony of the way the city has been built. I shared it with you once before but here it is again. First you see the Dutch church with all of its crosses and then a village right next door. Surrounding this village is a variety of high rises and sky scrapers. If you were to visit some of these high rises you'd see that at their bases are slums, some just on the other side of a cement wall. I have friends who have lived in other SE Asian communities who say that they never saw the poor like you do here in Jakarta. Quite often the poor lived on the outskirts of "higher" society and so you just never saw them. I think it's good that they are so obvious to us who live in the area...who benefits from living in a socio-economic bubble? Why I think that is it WRONG that some people live in 2 story cement buildings while a stones throw away their neighbours plywood & tin homes are being washed away is not that someone lives in the cement home...it is that so many thousands upon thousands of people live in the plywood & tin or bamboo (& sometimes worse...see 2 postings below) houses.
The flood occurred in an area called Cirendeu, where Tangerang (our city) and South Jakarta meet. A dam called Situa Gintung reservoir broke and rushed through the village. The photos reminded me of those I saw of the 1963 (?) tidal wave in Port Alberni. Water pressure was great enough to turn cars over and tear away homes. One woman had been to the market and returned to the spot where her 2 children had been sleeping in her home. Both the children and the home were gone. If this had happened in the neighbourhood where we live, we would have had house damage and maybe even our car, but we are in a safe place. There's no need to worry about our family when you hear of these kinds of things...but you can pray for those who don't live in such comfort as we do.
If you look at the cock-eyed map I've provided, we are quite northwest of the red star (off the map, I think).

Thanks for reading.
ps. Lynn and Heather from the "Betty" days...I love it that you are following our blog. Thanks:)