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Jakarta braces for floods as rainy season begins
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This aerial picture shows vehicles stopped at the edge of a flooded road in Jakarta on Feb. 20, 2021, following heavy overnight rains. (Agence France Presse/Arya)
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s Jakarta enters the rainy season this month, the city administration has started preparing for floods by dredging rivers, forming a team of first responders and urging Jakarta residents to clean up trash.
Acting Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono said the Jakarta administration would dredge all rivers and reservoirs in the capital, using at least 240 excavators to help clear sediment and debris from riverbeds.
The dredging program started at Kali Adem in North Jakarta on Sunday, with at least 600 residents participating in a mass river clean-up dubbed Bakti Kita Untuk Jakarta (Our Service for Jakarta), Antara reported. The program will continue in other rivers across the capital, such as the Ciliwung River on Monday.
Heru called on residents to do the same in their own neighborhoods, saying that cleaning drains and rivers could prevent floods.
“In facing the rainy season, all Jakarta residents are expected to work together cleaning up their own neighborhoods in the spirit of gotong royong [mutual cooperation],” Heru said on Sunday on the sidelines of the clean-up event in Central Jakarta, as quoted from Antara.
Heru said that all water pumps in the capital were functioning well to flush out water when heavy rains fell.
Read also: Swaths of Greater Jakarta flood
