Jakarta, home to annual flooding

Jakarta, home to annual flooding

Who's to blame for the flooding that has inundated some areas of
Jakarta recently? Flooding is familiar to Jakartans, as well as
those from other parts of the country, during the rainy season.

When flooding hit the capital in the 1990s it claimed several
lives; environmental reasons were cited as the underlying cause.

The lack of open areas as water catchments, ill-managed
domestic and industrial waste and land reclamation at coastal
areas were mentioned as possible causes of flooding.

Environmentalists and the administration have long been well
aware of the dangers of flooding but little has been done to
address the problem in a meaningful way.

The government, with many other problems to address, cannot be
singled out as solely responsible, as too many people choose --
often with few other realistic options -- to live along
riverbanks. There is also an ongoing tug-of-war between the
administration and city residents on where the city's waste
should be dumped.

Coping with flooding has therefore become part of the annual
routine of Jakartans living in certain areas of the city, mostly
slum neighborhoods, close to rivers. --Text and photos by P.J. Leo