Floods: Not an act of God

Floods: Not an act of God

Azas Tigor Nainggolan, Chairman, Forum of Jakarta City Residents
(FAKTA)

People say there is nothing new under the sun. This old adage
also applies to floods. The months of January and February 2002
witnessed how, for the umpteenth time, the city of Jakarta fell
easy victim to a massive deluge.

Floods have been part of Jakarta for hundreds of years. In
1699, because of the eruption of Mount Salak, the city was
inundated. Then the denuded forest areas in Puncak, Bogor, caused
great floods to submerge the city in 1711, followed three years
later by big floods that paralyzed economic activities in Jakarta
and led to an outbreak of the plague.

The city was hit by massive flooding in 1854, while the 20th
century saw Jakarta swept by great floods in 1942, 1976 and 1996.
Surprisingly, neither the central government nor the Jakarta city
administration has made a systematic and comprehensive effort to
free the city from the danger of floods.

The great deluge that hit Jakarta in February 2002 claimed 52
lives and sent about 97,380 families or 365,435 people from their
homes, many of which were submerged in water that reached over
three meters in height.

The floods claimed many victims and inflicted great material
losses because the city administration from the start failed to
make proper preparations against the deluge.

On March 13, Jakartans who fell victim to the flooding filed a
class action suit against President Megawati Soekarnoputri,
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and West Java Governor Nuriana, at the
Central Jakarta District Court.

Eight months later, however, the court dropped the suit,
saying the floods fell under the acts of God and therefore the
government could not be held accountable. The presiding judge
said that the government, in this case the President and the
governors, had done a lot to cope with and overcome the floods
and flood-related problems, for example by issuing relevant
regulations and instructing residents to prepare for flooding.

The class action suit filed by the flood victims was a proper
step to take, as neither the central government nor the Jakarta
administration had made any serious or significant efforts to
ensure that Jakarta was flood-free.

The Jakarta administration, for example, has both failed to
maintain and continue the efforts of the Dutch colonial rulers to
improve the capital's water and flood-control systems.

As of January 2002, the Jakarta city administration possessed
only 37 water pumps. Of this number, only 26 pumps are operated
by the city's Public Works Agency. With 40 percent (26,000
hectares) of the entire 65,000-ha territory of Jakarta below sea
level, the city does not have the facilities to properly prepare
itself against flooding on even the smallest scale.

Also, Sutiyoso has said the city administration has only 54
rubber boats, far from enough for all the flood-prone areas.

Recently, the weather forecasts for Jakarta have called for
clouds and rain. Surprisingly, as of this November, there have
been no signs that the city administration has done anything of
significance to provide the city with proper facilities and
infrastructure to ensure there will be better flood management.

The Jakarta administration itself did not organize a roll-call
rally against flooding until Nov. 16. And this rally gave the
impression of being only a ceremony of sorts meant to fool
Jakarta residents. On this occasion, Sutiyoso lightly said that
this rainy season Jakarta would not experience the great floods
of last January and February, given reports of reduced rainfall
levels by the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The great deluge that swept much of Jakarta early this year
claimed lives and inflicted huge material losses. The central
government and the city administration could have minimized, if
not averted, these huge losses.

The two major mistakes that the government -- particularly the
city administration -- committed and that were made the basis for
the class action suit by the victims, were the failure of the
government to implement an early warning system and the failure
to put in place an emergency response.

Solving the problem of flooding must involve residents, and
also requires the seriousness and consistency of the Jakarta
administration in performing its duties to residents. The city
administration must have a long-term plan and this plan must be
evaluated from time to time until it is fully realized.

The flood that submerged many areas of Jakarta in 2002 was
not an act of God. It was just ordinary flooding, as Jakarta is a
flood-prone city. Flooding like this can be predicted using all
the sophisticated instruments at our disposal now. And if it can
be predicted, we should also be able to do more to prevent it.