Controlling the floods?

Controlling the floods?

Even though every year both the central government and provincial administrations, including the Jakarta administration, express their determination to control floods and their impact, the natural disaster remains uncontrolled. Minimizing the impact of floods, much less anticipating them, seems to be difficult.

The floods that hit Jakarta on Wednesday were not as disastrous as those that hit Marseille, France, and Melbourne, Australia. Wednesday's floods were not as big as those that hit almost all parts of the capital two years ago, both in terms of scale and impact.

However, the floods two days ago left the capital almost paralyzed, because many roads, including toll roads, particularly in Central, West, East and South Jakarta, were congested up to the wee hours of Thursday.

The fact is, rainfall, which causes the flooding, has yet to reach its peak. The rain was quite heavy on Wednesday, but only lasted half a day.

The question is, what causes flooding that has such a serious impact? Based on the findings of a comprehensive survey, the floods are caused by the fact that first, not all areas in the capital have drainage systems; second, water accumulates in a number of infrastructure projects, such as the underpass project in Slipi, and overflows; third, the number of water catchment areas continue to be reduced; and fourth, the construction of some infrastructure ignores land use requirements.

Knowing the causes of the floods, we should find it easier to control the natural disaster. The question is, are the central government and provincial administrations determined to control these floods? -- Business Indonesia, Jakarta