Barabai, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Indonesia Forum for the Environment (Walhi) of South Kalimantan in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is running the Response Toward COVID-19 Resilience (Restore) program to clean up trash after the January 2021 flash flood in the Hantakan River, Central Hulu Sungai (HST) District.
The program, which was planned for three months, is currently ongoing. The targets are piles of garbage in the rivers in Batu Tunggal Village, Baru Village, Hantakan village, and Alat Village.
Director of Walhi of South Kalimantan Kisworo Dwi Cahyono in Barabai on Sunday said that the river clean with the United Nations' development agency also aimed at assisting local people economy during the pandemic.
"The main goal is to clean up the debris of big logs that are stranded in the river. Then they are handed over to the community to be used, so they have economic value," he said.
"The target of this program is to normalize the rivers, reduce the increase in volume and overflow of river water, reduce river wall erosion, increase the economy of the community, especially workers in the villages who are involved in this program," he expounded.
Chief of Meratus Command Post Kasman Susanto, who is the field coordinator in Alat Village, said that the hardest part of the job was cleaning concrete debris from the wreckage of the bridge that was damaged by the flood.
"We have to work extra just to clean the big concrete that becomes garbage in the river because we only use hammer and crowbars," he said.
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