Jakartans brace for floods next month<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) says rainfall in
\nJakarta in January will be almost as high as it was during the
\ndisastrous floods in 2002.<\/p>\n
Agency forecasting head Achmad Zakir told The Jakarta Post on
\nTuesday that the capital would have between 26 and 28 rainy days
\nduring the month, with rainfall of between 50 millimeters and 100
\nmm per day.<\/p>\n
It took at least 75 mm of rain a day over three consecutive
\ndays to cause floods in Jakarta, another staff member, who wished
\nto remain anonymous, said.<\/p>\n
Zakir said rain would begin to fall on successive days in late
\nDecember with the arrival of westerly winds.<\/p>\n
\"The heaviest rainfall will be in January and February,\" Zakir
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Another contributing factor was the high tides during a full
\nmoon. The next full moon will be in the first week of January.<\/p>\n
\"Two days of more than 75 mm daily rain combined with the high
\ntide will cause flooding,\" the BMG staff member said.<\/p>\n
Jakartans fear a possible repeat of the 2002 flood calamity,
\nwhich claimed at least 31 lives. The capital was paralyzed for
\ndays as 168 of 262 subdistricts were swamped and 300,000
\nresidents had to be evacuated.<\/p>\n
To minimize floods, the administration earmarked Rp 37 billion
\n(US$4.35 million) to undertake eight dredging projects -- on the
\nKrukut river, Ciliwung river, Grogol river, Cakung river, Sunter
\nriver and Mookervart river, and in Pulo Mas and Pluit reservoirs
\n-- supposedly starting in November.<\/p>\n
However, some people who work on the banks of the Ciliwung
\nriver said that they had not seen any dredging in the last few
\nmonths.<\/p>\n
\"The last time they dredged the river around here was after
\nthe big floods last year,\" said a boat driver as he took people
\nacross the Ciliwung river near Pasar Rumput, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
At the Manggarai sluice gate, garbage floated on the water and
\nthreatened to block the gate.<\/p>\n
\"We have excavators ready to scrape the trash out should it
\nbecome overwhelming,\" said an employee there. Four excavators sat
\nidly nearby.<\/p>\n
BMG warned people in the capital in October that torrential
\nrain would reach its peak in January and February next year.<\/p>\n
An early warning system has been developed by the city's
\ncrisis prevention center by coordinating subdistrict heads
\nthrough a hotline. It has yet to try out its new system.<\/p>\n
The center had a budget of several hundred billion rupiah,
\naccording to its coordinating team officer, Z.A.T. Siregar.<\/p>\n
A total of 40,874 personnel from the administration, police,
\nmilitary, search and rescue squad, the local Red Cross and a
\nstudent outdoor activity group are on call in the case of floods.<\/p>\n
Many people put the blame for the floods on diminishing water
\ncatchment areas. In 1965, Jakarta had around 24,000 hectares of
\ngreen area, or around 40 percent of its 60,000-hectares. The
\nfigure decreased to 18,000 hectares in 1985 and to 6,000 hectares
\nin 1998. Now Jakarta only has 4,320 hectares of green space.<\/p>\n
Bylaw No. 5\/1984 on Jakarta's spatial zoning states that the
\ncity must have between 26.5 percent and 31.5 percent, or between
\n15,900 hectares and 18,900 hectares, of green space.<\/p>\n
Environmentalists have slammed the administration for pushing
\nthrough more commercial high-rise buildings at the cost of green
\nareas.<\/p>",
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