Jakartans brace for floods next month

Jakartans brace for floods next month

Leony Aurora , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) says rainfall in
Jakarta in January will be almost as high as it was during the
disastrous floods in 2002.

Agency forecasting head Achmad Zakir told The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday that the capital would have between 26 and 28 rainy days
during the month, with rainfall of between 50 millimeters and 100
mm per day.

It took at least 75 mm of rain a day over three consecutive
days to cause floods in Jakarta, another staff member, who wished
to remain anonymous, said.

Zakir said rain would begin to fall on successive days in late
December with the arrival of westerly winds.

"The heaviest rainfall will be in January and February," Zakir
said.

Another contributing factor was the high tides during a full
moon. The next full moon will be in the first week of January.

"Two days of more than 75 mm daily rain combined with the high
tide will cause flooding," the BMG staff member said.

Jakartans fear a possible repeat of the 2002 flood calamity,
which claimed at least 31 lives. The capital was paralyzed for
days as 168 of 262 subdistricts were swamped and 300,000
residents had to be evacuated.

To minimize floods, the administration earmarked Rp 37 billion
(US$4.35 million) to undertake eight dredging projects -- on the
Krukut river, Ciliwung river, Grogol river, Cakung river, Sunter
river and Mookervart river, and in Pulo Mas and Pluit reservoirs
-- supposedly starting in November.

However, some people who work on the banks of the Ciliwung
river said that they had not seen any dredging in the last few
months.

"The last time they dredged the river around here was after
the big floods last year," said a boat driver as he took people
across the Ciliwung river near Pasar Rumput, South Jakarta.

At the Manggarai sluice gate, garbage floated on the water and
threatened to block the gate.

"We have excavators ready to scrape the trash out should it
become overwhelming," said an employee there. Four excavators sat
idly nearby.

BMG warned people in the capital in October that torrential
rain would reach its peak in January and February next year.

An early warning system has been developed by the city's
crisis prevention center by coordinating subdistrict heads
through a hotline. It has yet to try out its new system.

The center had a budget of several hundred billion rupiah,
according to its coordinating team officer, Z.A.T. Siregar.

A total of 40,874 personnel from the administration, police,
military, search and rescue squad, the local Red Cross and a
student outdoor activity group are on call in the case of floods.

Many people put the blame for the floods on diminishing water
catchment areas. In 1965, Jakarta had around 24,000 hectares of
green area, or around 40 percent of its 60,000-hectares. The
figure decreased to 18,000 hectares in 1985 and to 6,000 hectares
in 1998. Now Jakarta only has 4,320 hectares of green space.

Bylaw No. 5/1984 on Jakarta's spatial zoning states that the
city must have between 26.5 percent and 31.5 percent, or between
15,900 hectares and 18,900 hectares, of green space.

Environmentalists have slammed the administration for pushing
through more commercial high-rise buildings at the cost of green
areas.