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Jakarta Post

Editorial: Ready for wet days

With the rainy season due to begin in earnest, the Jakarta administration and residents need to stay alert in case of possible flooding that has frequently happened in the past

The Jakarta Post
Sat, October 26, 2013

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Editorial: Ready for wet days

W

ith the rainy season due to begin in earnest, the Jakarta administration and residents need to stay alert in case of possible flooding that has frequently happened in the past. Complacency will only inflict losses, particularly on those residents who live in flood-prone areas.

To some extent, the city administration has done its job by conducting several flood-mitigation projects, such as dredging the city'€™s rivers, revitalizing the reservoirs and preparing for a deep-tunnel project. The city, however, cannot ignore routine jobs such as ensuring the early warning and evacuation mechanisms work and preparing search and rescue personnel.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) says heavy rain could start falling in the coming days. Although the agency has not predicted the levels of the downpours, the city needs to get ready for the worst.

We have witnessed that the rains are tending to start earlier in the capital. Some 2,600 people in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, were affected by up to 100 centimeters of flood water recently when they were celebrating Idul Adha, the Islamic Day of Sacrifice. Similar flooding also affected five districts across the capital in August.

While major flood-mitigation projects are important to address the long-term impact of such occurrences in the capital, short-term measures are no less important, as evidenced during the last few months when most of the projects were unable to prevent the city from flooding. Therefore, an early warning system is a key element to providing residents in flood-prone areas enough time to evacuate, which in turn will help to prevent casualties.

Regrettably, however, many of the closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) installed in such flood-prone areas do not work properly due to poor maintenance. These CCTVs are important because they can help the Public Order Agency'€™s crisis center monitor the flooding. Agency head Kukuh Hadi Santoso said most of the total 264 CCTVs installed across Jakarta were in need of repair.

Needless to say all parties, particularly government agencies that deal with disaster mitigation, have to start looking at their checklists to make sure that all the required items are in place and ready for use anytime the flood waters hit. No less important is for us to all learn from the shortcomings in our own anticipation of previous years'€™ floods.

Last January, the flooding in the capital encroached into the grounds of the Presidential Palace, inundated the city'€™s main thoroughfares and affected some 114,000 people. The worst flooding to hit the city, in 2007, killed more than 50 people and inundated nearly two-thirds of the city'€™s land area.

Flooding is part of Jakarta'€™s annual calendar of events and yet we have ended up facing the same problems for so many years as if we habitually fail to learn from past mistakes. Some even believe that Jakarta will never be free from flooding, as more than a half of the city lies below sea level. Being better prepared is, therefore, the only thing the city administration and Jakartans can do.

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