Scores still missing after dam bursts

The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press, Jakarta | Sun, 03/29/2009 11:52 AM

Attention shifted to caring for homeless and hungry survivors after a dam burst outside the Indonesian capital, sending a wall of water crashing into homes and killing at least 91 people. More than 100 others are still missing, but hope dimmed Sunday of finding them alive.

Hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers have been digging through the mud and debris, some using hoes or their bare hands, while other rescuers scoured the banks of bloated rivers.

But so far, they have turned up mostly bodies.

Days of heavy rain caused a large lake bordering a low-lying residential area southwest of Jakarta to overflow early Friday, sending water cascading over the rim with a thunderous rumble. Hours later, a huge section of the earth wall gave away, and a 10-foot (three-meter) -high wave gushed through Cirendeu, overturning cars and uprooting trees.

National Disaster Coordinating Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono acknowledged that prospects of finding anyone alive in the muck were dimming by the hour, "though there's always the possibility that someone is alive trapped under the rubble."

Search-and-rescue operations would continue for at least a week, he said.

Some attention, meanwhile, shifted to providing food and shelter to the more than 1,600 people left homeless. Many were camping out in the hall of a nearby university, others in hastily erected tent camps.

Kardono said there was no shortage of supplies - instant noodles, baby food and bottled water - but with so many resources devoted to recovery efforts, the immediate problem was in distribution.

"What we urgently need are mattresses, blankets, clothes," said Abdul Hamid, one the victims. "I don't have anything anymore, all I had was swept away by the water. I don't have clothes for my children and my grandchildren."

Some residents blamed authorities, saying the 76-year-old dam, built in the Dutch colonial era, had been poorly maintained. They said blocked spillways had led to repeated flooding over the years, weakening it in several points.

The Ministry of Public Works promised to investigate.

Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a nation of 235 million.

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.