Floods: Same old story?

Floods: Same old story?

The torrential rains that hit parts of Jakarta recently have
apparently reminded people that it is time to switch anxieties --
from the scarcity of water due to the drought to the possibility
of flooding.

It is reasonable for people in Jakarta to worry about floods,
given that the number of areas in the city vulnerable to flooding
has increased. The latest records show at least 30,000 hectares
of Jakarta's 65,000 hectares of land are at risk of flooding,
spread across all five mayoralties.

How, one might ask, could that be since the central
government, the city administration and related institutions have
been working on flood control systems for decades?

An environmentalist warned in the early 1980s that Jakarta
would never be free from flooding because most of the city was
lowland.

While nature offers us no choice, Indonesians have gradually
managed to ruin their own habitat by, among other things,
willfully felling trees in river upstream areas, constructing new
buildings in designated as green areas and dumping garbage
anywhere they see fit.

The upstream areas of Bogor, Puncak and Cianjur -- all in West
Java -- are not as green as they were even as late as the 1970s,
due to the uncontrolled building of villas, hotels and other
structures in former woodlands and pastures. Mushrooming housing
projects are another cause for the denudation of these upstream
areas.

Even in Jakarta, people seem not to have learned anything
about the danger of flooding. Waterways, gutters and canals have
for decades been used as garbage dumps, despite the existence of
provincial regulations against the practice.

Sedimentation in most of the 13 rivers flowing through the
capital is another serious problem, caused in part by those
living along river banks. The daily dumping of garbage in gutters
and rivers has had a serious impact on the environment. Look, for
example, at the clogged Manggarai River in South Jakarta, where
the residents' significant contribution to the danger of flooding
is immediately apparent.

Law enforcement appears to be a novel idea among government
institutions. Nevertheless, the city administration should draw
up reasonable plans to support a flood-control campaign, instead
of engaging in such exploits as cutting down trees to make space
for statues and proposing the controversial reclamation of
Jakarta coastal areas.

The Jakarta administration apparently believes that the Rp 4.5
trillion flood control project, known as Eastern Flood Canal,
will be the best formula to free the city from flooding.
Meanwhile, though, many are skeptical that the project, which was
officially begun in June this year, will be finished as scheduled
given the troubled land acquisition process. The fact that only
10 percent of the required land has been acquired means the dream
of a flood-free Jakarta will likely remain in the realm of the
impossible.

The administration's decision to dredge the city's rivers
deserves appreciation. But dredging work on the Ciliwung, Krukut,
Cakung, Grogol and Sunter rivers, as well as the Mookervaart
canal and two other rivers in Pulomas, East Jakarta, and Pluit,
North Jakarta, has just began. The Rp 37 billion project will not
free the city from floods, though the work will ease the flow of
water in the rivers, and thus minimize overflowing in areas along
the waterways.

Residents, therefore, are well advised to be watchful,
especially during rainstorms. In such a situation, speedy and
accurate warnings and information from the authorities is
required. The authorities must not make the same mistakes they
made in February this year, when floods submerged many areas,
forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes. The flood
early warning system did not work, and water-pump operators were
not on alert when the flooding began at about midnight.

With rainy days coming, both the authorities and residents
must prepare for the worst-case scenario. And again, it is
imperative that the authorities encourage neighborhoods to do
whatever is necessary to spare themselves the misery that floods
can bring. Unless both residents and the authorities are
prepared, we are likely to see the same old story repeat itself
from year to year.