Vatican City, 16 February 2007 – The national Caritas organisation in Indonesia, known as KARINA, is busy ferrying relief supplies and evacuating people from their homes in Jakarta and other surrounding areas that are still submerged under flood waters. But the organisation is warning that serious illnesses are just about to begin taking hold.

"Many people are getting sick, especially the children, who are not strong enough to be living in the temporary shelters," said Yohanes Baskoro, a volunteer who has been helping KARINA in the Jakarta area.

"We have been visiting some of the worst areas, such as along the Ciliwung River, and we've seen lots of problems with skin irritations and diarrhea. Many people are also suffering from dengue fever and respiratory illnesses," Mr Baskoro said.

The areas along the Ciliwung River are also some of the poorest areas of Jakarta, and there wooden homes were entirely swept away. People won't even have a home to return to.

KARINA launched an appeal through the Caritas network for just over 500,000 $US to care for victims of the flooding that began on February 1st. During the one-month emergency phase, the funds have already helped to procure KARINA a fleet of 40 rubber dinghies that it is distributing among local partner organisations, and volunteers from the different dioceses and parishes have already been active over the past few weeks. KARINA is also working through Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama, to reach out beyond the network of Catholic faithful to faiths of all kinds.

KARINA, through its local partners, has been distributing food and water, hygiene items, blankets, mosquito nets and sleeping mats to people in temporary shelters as well as those people who have decided to stay in or return their homes. Supplies will be distributed to 100,000 people.

Father Ignatius Ismartono, head of the Crisis and Reconciliation Service of the Indonesian Bishops' Conference, said, "We are now preparing the kits full of medicines to be given to medical teams, which we think is now the most important thing."

"The biggest danger is that as I look out my window now, there are dark clouds hanging, but in Jakarta it is not raining. But it might start raining in the hillsides, and all of the 13 rivers around the city pour into Jakarta. So we could be faced with a sudden rush of water unexpectedly," Father Ismartono explained.

Meanwhile, since the rains appear to have let up, many Jakartans were busy trying to return to their homes to salvage what they can.

Father Ismartono said that KARINA was keeping in close communication with other parishes and areas around Jakarta, so they could monitor the rains around the city. Of course they are also closely following the weather reports, he said.

The rainy season isn't expected to end for several more weeks, with its peak expected at the end of February.

The government estimates that some 16,000 people remain displaced by the flooding, while some 80 people have died. At the peak of the floods, official figures placed the number of displaced at nearly half a million.

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations present in over 200 countries and territories.

For more information, contact: 
Nancy McNally, CI Media Officer
Tel: +39 06 69879752
mcnally@caritas.va
www.caritas.org

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