Angke River Embankment in West Jakarta Collapses, Damages a House

A local resident, Dian, claimed that the embankment wall had been cracked for a long time. “As far as I know, from the beginning, the wall on this side and that side was already cracked,” said Dian when met at the location on Thursday. According to her, the cracks in the embankment had widened further because the area often experienced flooding from the Angke River overflow. Ahead of Ramadan, the cracks in the embankment became even more visible and wide. Up to a week before Eid al-Fitr, the embankment collapsed and also swept away an unoccupied residential building. “So a week before Eid, it collapsed. Everything collapsed, the wall was swept away there. There was originally one residential house, it also collapsed,” said Dian. Although the cracks did not occur along the entire embankment, the incident made local residents anxious. They feared that the river flow without an embankment could overflow and flood settlements if not repaired soon. “I’m very scared, sir, scared that it will spread everywhere (the cracks). Because at first it was just a little, now it’s spread here and collapsed. Later if there’s a flood, I’m afraid it will enter the houses, everywhere,” she said. At the location, the retaining wall barrier along about 10 metres was now submerged into the river flow. As a result, the riverbank also collapsed into the river. In the river flow, several household items such as sofas, house debris, and piles of rubbish were also visible. Meanwhile, several personnel from the West Jakarta Water Resources Sub-Department were carrying out cleaning of the area and repairing the embankment.