"We hope the emergency bridge would have been used on Thursday (Jan 16), but this is a pedestrian bridge, so it cannot be crossed by motorists," Kampong Somang's community leader, Nana Mulyana, noted in Sukarame Village on Tuesday.
Erected in Kampong Somang, this bamboo bridge is yet under construction. Motorcyclists looking to reach neighbouring villages in Sarija Sub-district cannot ride their vehicles while crossing the bridge.
However, they may park their motorcycles in the yards of the locals' houses. They can thereafter continue their trip on foot across the bamboo pedestrian bridge, Mulyana remarked, adding that over a thousand people are expected to cross it daily.
The flash floods and landslide swamped the areas of Sukarame Village in early January, damaging several houses and infrastructure facilities. Several houses had also been destroyed and wrecked by the strong current of the floodwaters.
Agus, a resident of Sukarame Village, admitted to the bamboo pedestrian bridge being quite helpful for him and other villagers since it annulled their need to pass through hilly areas that would lengthen their trips to neighbouring villages.
Sukarame Village is one of the areas in Banten Province that bore the maximum impact of the recent natural disaster.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), flash floods and landslides in early January had killed at least 60 people.
The flooding swamped a wide range of areas in various sub-districts in the provinces of Jakarta, West Jakarta, and Banten, the agency's spokesman, Agus Wibowo, noted in a press statement.
The flash floods, caused by high-intensity rainfall for some days, submerged several areas of 18 sub-districts in Bekasi District, 17 sub-districts in Jakarta, and 13 sub-districts in Bogor District and Tangerang City respectively.
The disaster also affected 12 sub-districts in Bekasi City, 11 sub-districts in Depok City, and six sub-districts in Lebak District, Bogor City, and Tangerang Selatan City respectively, Wibowo stated.
Consequently, floodwaters, submerging houses, led to the forced displacement of several hundred thousand people in cities, such as Bekasi and Jakarta. Related news: Several hundred homes in Cirebon inundated
Related news: Lebak's 18 Islamic boarding school buildings damaged by flooding
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Translator: Mansyur S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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