O

nly a few weeks after celebrating New Year, Jakartans have once again been forced to confront their old nemesis '€” flooding. Jakartans are luckier, however, than residents of Karo regency and their neighbors in North Sumatra, living at the foot of Mount Sinabung, who have been under constant threat from the active volcano for months, or citizens of the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, where a flash flood killed at least 16 people this week.

Floods have occurred frequently in Jakarta for decades, even centuries. Efforts to contain the disasters date back to the Dutch colonial period but, with the population booming, more water catchment areas being converted into buildings and human encroachment of riverbanks expanding, the floods have become more difficult to control.

Aggressive development along Jakarta'€™s north coast has exacerbated the problems in upstream and midstream areas. Bottlenecks and sedimentation plague all the 13 rivers dissecting the city and easily trigger flooding. Compounded by rising sea levels and a clogged drainage network, Jakarta is vulnerable to floods even when rain falls for just a short time.

Thousands of Jakartans sought shelter from the floods early this week but, according to the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), many of them have returned to their homes now that the floodwaters have receded.

Humanitarian relief from the city administration and the private sector has continued to pour into flood-affected areas but, with the rainy season stretching to February, Jakarta needs extra efforts to address the disaster once and for all. Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said the city had allocated Rp 20 billion (US$1.66 million) to cloud seeding, which he said was worth the cost compared to potential losses of Rp 20 trillion that the floods could inflict. Follow-up measures would need to include improvement of drainage systems, normalization of rivers and reservoirs, as well as construction of flood-controlling dams outside the city.

Natural disasters know no borders. More than 26,000 people have been living in shelters in Karo since Mt. Sinabung began to erupt last September. Living in distress at the shelters, at least 14 have died, mostly from illnesses.

The villagers, displaced for months, have mounted calls for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to visit them. Yudhoyono responded to the request, but will only arrive on Jan. 23. Such a slow response contradicts Yudhoyono'€™s immediate reaction to the volcanic eruptions in Yogyakarta in 2006 and 2010. In 2006, the President temporarily moved his office to the sultanate city in order to directly monitor disaster mitigation efforts.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Syamsul Maarif said after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that Yudhoyono had ordered ministries and government institutions to boost assistance to the people displaced by the Mt. Sinabung eruptions.

The Public Works Ministry, for example, will improve water services in shelters, the Education and Culture Ministry will provide scholarships to affected children and the coordinating people'€™s welfare minister will arrange a cash-for-work program for the disaster victims, who subsist mostly on farming. At least 10,000 hectares of farmland and plantations belonging to the villagers look certain to suffer harvest failure.

Given the threat of pyroclastic clouds and volcanic ash that may strike again in the future, the Karo emergency response team has suggested that 1,000 families living in three villages located nearest to the volcano be relocated to safer areas within the regency. Some of the choices for resettlement
include Merek district.

In response to the flash flood in Manado, the BNPB has allocated Rp 3.3 billion to help disaster victims. As of Thursday the calamity had claimed 16 lives and displaced 40,000 people. Rescue teams have intensified the search for people who are feared missing.

Syamsul said torrential rain in the last few days had sparked natural disasters in at least six regencies and municipalities almost simultaneously.

It seems the year 2014 is a time to live dangerously for people in many regions as a result of disasters. For some politicians in Jakarta, however, disaster is also lurking and may cost them their political careers.

The catastrophe is the work of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), whose investigators searched the offices of some House of Representatives legislators from the ruling Democratic Party and the Golkar Party and the office of the Democratic Party'€™s faction at the House. The bold move followed the testimony of former Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) chief Rudi Rubiandini, who admitted to giving US$200,000 to members of the House'€™s energy commission as Idul Fitri bonuses in 2013. Rudi is standing trial for alleged bribery.

The KPK'€™s main targets in Thursday'€™s raid were the energy commission chairman, Sutan Bhatoegana, and his Democratic Party colleague Tri Yulianto, who Rudi said had accepted the bonuses upon Sutan'€™s orders.

At about the same time, the KPK named Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry secretary-general Waryono Karyo a new suspect in the case, triggering speculation that he will lead the anti-graft body to his boss Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik, also a Democratic Party leader.

'€” Dwi Atmanta