She did not go to a hospital or a regular clinic however -- in a sign that even a flood can be exploited, political party volunteers offered her a check in a tent clinic they had set up by the roadside in the Indonesian capital.

They also gave her medicine free of charge.

With the floods displacing some 340,000 people from their homes, political parties have been quick to offer help. Authorities have been roundly condemned for their response -- relief aid is poor and patchy -- and elections for city governor will be held later in the year.

Flood waters had just receded from around Siryani's modest two-storey home in east Jakarta where she had been trapped with her husband and some of their children and grandchildren.

"I just managed to come out of my house today," she said. "Now I can go out and look for some food for myself and my family."

She said no one had tried to deliver food or rescue them during the ordeal in the isolated house.

"We have five mobile teams going around temporary shelters with two doctors in each team," explained Netty Prasetyani, the health team coordinator at the clinic Siryani visited which is run by the Prosperous Justice Party.

"Most of the complaints we receive are skin problems and vomiting."

Next to the tent, a pickup truck stopped to deliver hundreds of packets of rice and vegetables. Within minutes, people had swarmed over and snatched away the modest rations.

Ahmad, a volunteer, said they received deliveries from various people and organisations three times a day.

"There is no distribution system, anyone who wants it can take it," he told AFP, adding that the food was usually gone within minutes.

Across the street, a group of people sheltered under a flyover.

Among them was Anti and her family, forced to take refuge there during the past two days with just a piece of plastic tarpaulin to cover the ground.

"The mosque is full," she said, although she said she goes there to bathe and use the toilet.

Hundreds of people packed the small mosque, with several political parties using it as an aid distribution post and a way to raise their profile.

Private companies -- from food to mining -- were also quick to hang banners on shelters advertising their products along with their aid.

Two private telephone firms offered free calls for flood victims to contact relatives and friends.

"This is the second day we offered the service," said Rahmat, adding that more than 100 people had so far taken advantage of it.

Nearby, Salmah, 37, her husband and four children spoke hopefully of moving out of the school yard where they have stayed for nearly a week.

"I will move to my brother's house tonight," she said, because the school was too cold for her children.

"This morning my youngest cried all night because it rained so hard and the cold wind woke him up," she said as he put her one-year-old son to sleep.

While not lacking food, she said they badly needed blankets and children's clothing as they had lost everything in the floods.

Even so, Salmah said she would rather endure annual floods than move out of the capital and risk losing her family's income.

"How can my husband work outside Jakarta?" she asked, saying he is a street musician and part-time handyman.

"So every year my house is flooded, we're used to it," she shrugged.

earlier related report
Indonesian officials warn of disease risk as rain lashes Jakarta
Jakarta (AFP) Feb 6 - Health officials warned Tuesday of a growing risk of disease from the filthy floodwaters inundating the Indonesian capital, where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Torrential rains early Tuesday raised water levels still further, bringing more misery to Jakarta and the surrounding area, where the floods have already killed at least 36 people.

Officials warned of the risk of leptospirosis, which causes high fever and painful joints, from the contaminated floodwaters.

Jakarta's health office deputy head Salimar Salim urged people in flooded areas to take precautions against the bacterial disease which is mainly spread by rat urine and can survive for months in water and on the ground.

"We urge (people), that when they clean up after the flood, to use rubber gloves and rubber boots," the Detikcom news portal quoted her as saying.

So far nearly 40,000 people have been treated for minor ailments, officials said.

"So far we have had a few cases of diarrhoea, cases of respiratory diseases and also skin irritations, but we have so far no report of cases involving dangerous diseases such as tetanus or leptospirosis," said Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre.

"As of today (Tuesday), we have distributed 12 tonnes of medicine for Jakarta, West Java and Banten, and deployed over 3,000 medical staff," he told AFP, adding that 200 doctors were helping in flood relief operations.

Charities and political parties have also set up makeshift clinics.

"My daughter has skin problems," Dini, 29, told a visiting doctor as her seven-month-old baby was examined.

They have taken refuge in a mosque for nearly a week and have to wait for volunteers to deliver food and drinking water.

Medical aid group International SOS also warned of the risk of disease from the polluted waters.

"Flooding can also lead to gastro-intestinal illness like cholera and typhoid, especially if people consume unsafe food and water. Floodwaters are usually polluted with elements like oil and lead, as well as disease-causing organisms like the bacterium E. coli," it said in a medical alert.

More than 40,000 police, troops and volunteers were helping to evacuate and bring aid to around 340,000 people displaced by the massive floods.

Jakarta police spokesman Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told journalists the death toll had risen to 36, with one man still missing.

Rescuers were trying to evacuate people who had so far refused to leave their flooded homes, said Eman from the East Jakarta disaster mitigation centre.

Many still refuse to leave, saying they fear for their belongings or that conditions at the shelters will be no better.

Hundreds of navy personnel were also evacuating people stranded in north Jakarta.

"We are still focusing our evacuation efforts on the Kelapa Gading area where the water level is still reaching a height of one-and-a-half metres," Lieutenant Colonel Irawan told the state Antara news agency.

Heavy downpours have raised the water levels at all of the city's main floodgates and further rain is forecast until at least Wednesday.

"Our three-day forecast shows that rains will continue to fall, but with less volume than the first five days of this month," meteorology office spokesman Ahmad Zakir said.

Between 12 and 15 centimetres of rain have fallen daily, but he said levels were now likely to drop to around eight to 10 centimetres.

ElShinta radio reported floodwaters had returned in some areas where they had started to recede, and callers from the south and southwest of the city said water levels were rising again in their areas.

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has blamed the floods on excessive construction on natural drainage areas, but city governor Sutiyoso said it was a "cyclical natural phenomenon."

Old Batavia, the former colonial port under Dutch rule from where Jakarta has expanded, was built on marshland and some areas of the capital are below sea level.

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