The Sorrow of Pekalongan’s Flooded Students and Batik Artists

Name: The Sorrow of Pekalongan’s Flooded Students and Batik Artists
Uploaded: 2020-03-31T03:42:20Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: The series of floods has severely disrupted the activities of students and batik artists in Pekalongan. The fact reminds us that we can be truly incapacitated by disaster. Mitigation and early anticipation is encouraged

The series of floods has severely disrupted the activities of students and batik artists in Pekalongan. The fact reminds us that we can be truly incapacitated by disaster. Mitigation and early anticipation is encouraged

KRISTI UTAMI

· 5 minutes read

Heavy rains since the beginning of the year have caused several major rivers on the northern coast of Central Java’s western region to overflow. Most of Pekalongan city and regency, for instance, has been severely flooded four times in only three months. The disaster has left behind a trail of sorrow among students and batik artists in the two regions.

This sorrow was deeply felt by teachers and students of SMP 3 Tirto state junior high school in Tirto district, Pekalongan regency. As of Saturday (7/3/2020), school activities were still held at the Annur Tirto grand mosque as the school had been inundated for two weeks. Previously, the inundation at the school reached one meter deep. That Saturday morning, the inundation was still around 30 centimeters deep.

At the mosque, 259 students of eight classrooms shared one space. They sat in groups according to their class. Due to a lack of any partition between classes, the mosque was noisy. The teachers needed to shout once in a while as some students complained that they could not hear them.

Also read : Flood Problems Still Unresolved

“We need to really adjust the volume of our voices so that everyone in our classroom can hear us but we do not disrupt other classrooms. This is quite difficult as sometimes there are students who talk during class,” said the school’s English teacher Windarti, 41.

According to Windarti, SMPN 3 Tirto teachers and students have moved their school activities to the mosque several times since 2014. In previous years, the teachers and students held activities at the mosque for a week at the longest. This year, it has been two weeks.

As school activities are held at the mosque, school hours are reduced. School days, which usually last between 7 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., are now cut short to between 7:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.

“Other than regular school hours, additional learning hours for ninth graders between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. are also eliminated. This is bad for me as [the additional hours] give me more time to learn materials that I cannot quite grasp yet,” said SMPN 3 Tirto ninth-grader Dian Nurussobah, 15.

Meanwhile, at SMPN 3 Tirto’s campus, the 30 cm inundation at the school yard persists. Mold and mud make the school yard slippery. Visitors can slip easily if they are not careful.

“On the first days of the flood [in January], I once slipped in the school yard. I fell into a puddle and my clothes got all wet,” said Naila Aulia Yuli Khafifah, 14.

The eighth grader was forced to return home, change clothes and get back to school. When she arrived back at school, the first period had started. Naila was then punished for coming late. She was told to help clean the yard, in line with a school rule.

Another risk Naila has to take is finding snakes in the floodwaters. Every day, Naila has to defeat her fear and push herself to walk through the water to get to her school.

“I found snakes several times when walking through the floodwater. I was afraid but I had no other choice,” she said.

Other than education, floods have also hit the local economy. In the local batik industry, for instance, artists and businesspeople have to suffer losses of up to billions of rupiah every week.

Batik cloth colorist Anisah, 45, of Karangjompo village, Tirto district, said that batik-coloring activities had been disrupted for the past two weeks. Batik-making equipment such as canting (the pen-like tool used in batik-making process), copper plates, dye, liquid hot wax, fabric and base, are inundated. Losses due to inundated equipment and materials are estimated to reach Rp 15 million (US$913.52).

In Pasirkratonkramat subdistrict, West Pekalongan district, Pekalongan city, 38-year-old batik seller Fauzi also complained about dwindling batik sales due to disrupted production activities. In normal conditions, Fauzi can sell 4,000 batik cloths per week.

“There has been no sales in the past two weeks. Losses can reach Rp 190 million a week,” he said.

On Saturday, Karangjompo village was busy with batik coloring activities. A 4-square-meter wooden base that had not seen cloths for days was finally used for coloring hundreds of pieces of cloth that day. One by one, the cloth was laid open on the base and adorned with various bright colors.

There has been no sales in the past two weeks. Losses can reach Rp 190 million a week

At the wrinkly hands of Wariyah, 57, the pale cloths turned into bright red, orange, purple, yellow and blue. The bright colors of the batik cloths spread into the face of the woman from Karangjompo village. That Saturday morning was the first time Wariyah returned to work after 10 days due to flood.

Wariyah said that she had to get back to work to earn money to buy staple needs. While living in shelter, she could not work. Wariyah relied on help from a general kitchen to feed her family.

“Now that I have returned home, I have to get back to work to earn money and buy food,” she said.

In the past five years, Wariyah’s home has been flooded several times. Every year, she has to leave her house as her bed was inundated by floodwater.

In Pekalongan city and regency, flood is caused by heavy rainfall, which led to high water debit at Meduri and Bremi rivers. The river’s embankment has actually been raised by using sand bags in several places. However, this does not make the two rivers’ surrounding area flood-free.

Separately, Pekalongan Regent Asip Kholbihi said his administration alongside the Pekalongan city administration, the Pemali-Comal Flood Control Office and the Central Java Public Works, Water Resources and Spatial Planning Agency have planned to revitalize rivers, create polders and establish pumps as long-term flood control solutions. It is hoped that the programs can be realized soon.

Editor:

Syahnan Rangkuti

flood natural disaster pekalongan batik heavy rains