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Indonesia dam breaks, killing at least 50
Posted: Friday, March 27th, 2009
JAKARTA – A wall of water from a burst dam killed 52 people on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Friday, crashing into hundreds of homes while many residents slept, officials said.
While landslides and floods are common during the rainy season in Indonesia, the latest disaster was probably caused by torrential rain and poor maintenance, some officials said, reflecting years of under-investment in much of the country’s crucial infrastructure.
The dam, which retained water in Lake Situ Gintung in Tangerang District, 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Jakarta, dated from the 1930s in the Dutch colonial era, according to local media reports.
