JP/6/TIGOR

Jakarta's floods not at disposal 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. Then, when much of the city was submerged, the city administration did little to help the victims.

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.

A leading Jakarta-based newspaper rightly wrote that "we are now busy voicing opinions; when the floods go and our attention will likewise go, until we are shocked by the arrival of another flood".

The great deluge that swept much of Jakarta early this year claimed lives and inflicted huge material losses on the residents of Jakarta and on the city administration itself. 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.