Petoosang Village Threatened to Disappear

Polewali Mandar, Sulbarkita.com -- The overflow of the Mandar river is a frightening specter for thousands of inhabitants of the Village of Petoosang, Alu District, Polewali Mandar Regency. The overflow of the river continues to erode the land of Petoosang Village up to more than 100 meters.

Head of Environment III Petoosang Village, Hasanuddin, was worried that the embankment would not be renewed, because community settlements were threatened with being washed away by river currents. "When it rained two days and two nights some time ago, residents panicked and fled to the hills and other villages. That night the village was empty," he told Sulbarkita.com, when met on the banks of the Mandar river, Friday, January 31, 2020.

The Mandar retaining embankment in Petoosang has been built twice, namely in 1989 and 2009. However, the retaining embankment of the river flow which first disappeared in the riverbed due to the flash floods that struck the Petoosang District in 2009.

At that time hundreds of houses were swept away by the river, nine lives were lost and two people were declared missing. The local government also rebuilt the river retaining embankment in the same year. But 11 years have passed, the embankment has been unable to stem the flow of the river so that some of its building structures are swallowed to the riverbed.

According to Hasanuddin, the incident traumatized residents of the banjir bandang disaster which had happened three times. "I hope the government helps us, especially if the river overflows the land next to the river shifts to here (settlement) again," Hasanuddin said.

The height of the water during flash floods usually reaches three meters and sweeps away all the houses without anyone left. "There is no house except a stone house," Hasanuddin said briefly.

In the same place, Head of the Economy and Development Section of Petoosang Urban Village, Rasyid said the same thing. He said, if left untreated, the retaining embankment by the river would be broken. "My father became one of the victims of the flash floods in Petoosang in 2009. "My family and I are displaced if it rains continuously, we feel that we are not yet independent," he said.

Polewali Mandar DPRD member Muliadi claimed to have conveyed to the government the ineffective construction of a retaining embankment for the Petoosang River. The legislator from Alu Subdistrict mentioned the condition of the land along the river which is classified as unstable. "It is better if the earth pile is built to retain abrasion," he said when met at his residence, Friday, January 31, 2020.

According to this PPP politician, Petoosang Village consists of five neighborhoods with a population of 1500 people from 410 households. "When it was raining yesterday, a number of people came to the house complaining about the embankment that had fallen in half. If all of them collapse, I predict that one village will run out, "he concluded.

Ahmad G