Under the Bridge

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Under the bridge

In February 2007 Indonesia made headlines as floods struck Jakarta. Being one of the most densely populated cities in the world, there was nowhere to go for those who had resorted to building homes on the riverbanks and their life’s possessions were washed away. Most probably when the waters lower they will have no option but to build there again. The power of nature was the root of another disaster. What I found interesting though was how this caught the attention of so many when a similar disaster was being caused by man, which had been going on for much longer, and was getting hardly any attention at all.

With no money and nowhere else to go urban migrants have resorted to living under a number of bridges in the city, simply because it is the only available land. Even on Jakarta’s only rubbish dump communities have emerged. The government claiming the land to be theirs has taken to evicting the migrants from under these bridges. After an initial warning their homes were demolished. Like with the flood victims they were forced to rebuild in the same place.  Government retaliated by demolishing them again, and when that didn’t work the communities were burned to the ground. No temporary accommodation was granted to them.  The Human Rights Commission confronted government on this but to date nothing had ever come of it.

Today these people fight for survival, predominantly recycling scraps of plastic for a living which they fish out of the murky rivers.  They want to make a livelihood for themselves, but fear it will be burned to the ground at any time.

This is a day in the life of waiting for your home to burn, while the world drives over your head unscathed.