Jakarta – Senior education expert Mochtar Buchori told the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday the city administration failed to help residents during February's flood disaster and in the aftermath.

He was testifying as a victim in a lawsuit on flood negligence filed by non-governmental organization Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) against the Jakarta governor and the Jakarta administration.

Mochtar said during the February flood, his official residence in the complex of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences on Jl. Widya Chandra, South Jakarta, was three-meters under water.

"During the flood, I was evacuated by my son-in-law, who used his own dinghy. I received no help from district officials," he said.

The 81-year-old, who served as deputy chairman for the institute before retiring in 1992, later moved to his daughter's house after his was ruined by floodwaters.

"My house became uninhabitable after the flood and had to be repaired. I didn't have enough money to repair it, so I decided to hand it back to the institute and stayed on with my daughter," he said.

He added the flood not only damaged his house, where he had lived since 1981, but also ruined many of his books. "My books are my most valuable possessions and many of them, as well as precious documents, were destroyed."

Mochtar said February's flood was the biggest since the last major one, which hit his home in 1996. "My house is located just meters from a small river. As far as I am concerned, the only flood preventive measure taken by the government was dredging the river... but that was a long time ago, in 1994."

The court had earlier heard from expert witnesses Erwin Iskandar, a head researcher from Trisakti University in West Jakarta, and Sumiyati, another flood victim. The hearing was adjourned until next week when the court will hear from defense witnesses for the accused.