Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has set a target for the completion of repairs on the Wulan River embankment in Ngemplik Wetan Village, Karanganyar District, Demak, Central Java, which collapsed due to flooding, to be achieved by Friday. The flooding has affected more than 100,000 people, with nearly 25,000 of them being evacuated.

He stated that the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry had undertaken repairs on the collapsed embankment that resulted in flooding in several areas.

"I've inquired with the Public Works Minister about the status of the collapsed embankment; we're hoping it can be sealed off tonight or by tomorrow, given the high water flow," said Jokowi in Jakarta, on Thursday.

When asked about whether he would immediately visit Demak, Jokowi simply nodded.

The flooding in Demak first occurred on February 8 but later receded. However, on March 17, the Wulan River embankment collapsed again due to heavy rain, leading to more severe flooding in Demak. Apart from inundating residential areas, the floods also cut off the national road connecting Demak-Kudus, with a depth of 2 meters.

Jokowi explained that the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) had been instructed to handle the flooding that forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.

Jokowi assured that the Public Works Ministry would work tirelessly to close the collapsed embankment.

"[During the first flood in February], The Ministry immediately swung into action and managed to close it within three full days. For this second collapse, they are working tirelessly day and night to seal it," he elaborated.

Muhammad Adek Rizaldi, the Director of Operations and Maintenance of Water Resources at the Ministry, stated that after halting the flow of water to residential areas, strengthening and raising the Wulan River embankment would be the next step.

"Our primary objective is to close the embankment first; today, God willing, it will be sealed," he said in Demak on Thursday.

Starting Thursday, they will continue to deploy 22 units of water pumps to work at maximum capacity once the Wulan River embankment is sealed. The total estimated capacity of the 22 water pumps is 15,000 cubic meters per second. They hope that with maximum pumping, traffic on the Semarang-Surabaya national road route via the Pantura Route can return to normal soon, especially as the Eid homecoming period approaches.

As of now, thousands of houses in Demak are still submerged. Data from the Demak BPBD as of March 20 recorded flooding in 97 villages in 11 districts. There are 103,501 people affected by the flooding, with 24,991 of them being evacuated.

This is the largest flood in the area, considering that out of 14 districts, only 3 districts in Demak were not affected by the flooding.

Abdul Muhari, the Head of the Data, Information, and Communication Center of BNPB, stated that tens of thousands of people affected by the flooding are still living in emergency tents and public facilities that have been converted into temporary shelters.

Emergency posts are spread across 16 locations, each in Karanganyar, Karang Tengah, Gajah, Wonosalam, Sayung, and Demak districts.

Add as a preferred source on Google +