Indonesians Still Seeking High Ground

Strings of bright laundry hang among the gravestones and people who are brave enough sleep among the dead, taking refuge on the high ground of the Karet cemetery from the worst flooding in Jakarta in decades.

The skies were clear Tuesday but stagnant water filled nearly half the city’s streets and more than 220,000 people remained homeless after several days of torrential rains and overflowing rivers.

The water level dropped in some areas and officials said that more than 100,000 people had returned from government shelters to their homes. But electricity and water supplies had not been restored to much of this city of 12 million people.

As of late Tuesday, the death toll for greater Jakarta had risen to 44, said the city’s police spokesman, Col. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana.

Tens of thousands of people who chose not to evacuate remained stranded on upper floors, receiving government food deliveries by boat.

For several hundred evacuees, the cemetery offered a refuge with public toilets and water pumps for laundry. An informal community has emerged, with women cooking donated food at a communal fire under a big blue tarpaulin.

Siti Amina, 23, who fled chest-high floodwaters on Thursday night with her 4-year-old daughter in her arms, has settled into what could be a lengthy stay.

The tiny home she shares with 10 other people remained almost entirely under water. She and her husband, Saefullah, 25, who sells fried bananas and fish cakes, do not know when they will be able to return.

“We are afraid to sleep in the cemetery,” Ms. Siti said, “but we have no other place to go. We are sleeping among the dead.”

from the NY Times