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Disaster warning system needed for Olympic bid
The capacity of a city to host a multisport event can be gauged by a lot of factors, not only from staging a successful sporting tournament itself but also its preparedness for emergencies, including natural disasters
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span>The capacity of a city to host a multisport event can be gauged by a lot of factors, not only from staging a successful sporting tournament itself but also its preparedness for emergencies, including natural disasters.
Despite being heavily criticized for its initial failings in welcoming participants at the beginning of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in November last year, the Philippines managed to reassure all the parties involved in the event when Typhoon Kamuri made landfall in the country during the Games.
With an early-warning system that was directly connected with telecommunication providers, athletes, officials and journalists participating in the Games could avoid the worst of the typhoon.
The Games’ organizers immediately postponed several competitions such as rowing in Subic, which is a bay area, when the conditions were considered too dangerous for athletes.
Reflecting on such experiences, Raja Sapta “Okto” Oktohari of Indonesian National Olympic Committee (NOC) urged the government to set up a disaster early-warning system for Jakarta, should the country eventually be named host of the 2032 Olympics.
The recent severe flooding that hit the capital in the New Year has revealed the city’s poor early-warning system as torrential rain that poured down starting on New Year’s Eve inundated several areas in Greater Jakarta.
“My experience in the SEA Games was that the Philippines was more advanced than Indonesia when it comes to a disaster early-warning system,” Okto said in a statement. “The warning arrived four days before the typhoon. The warning appeared on each cellular phone as it was integrated with providers.”
As of now, Jakarta does not have an integrated early-warning system such as the Philippines has. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), however, often circulates its forecasts of heavy rain on its website, bmkg.go.id, as well as to news outlets.
The Jakarta administration also relies on the observation of water levels in water sluices, like the one in Katulampa, Bogor, West Java, to predict the arrival of floods in the city.
Okto urged the government to create a disaster early-warning system in order to have predictions on a yearly cycle.
“We will be preparing to host the Olympics in the next 10 years. How can we host the Olympics if there are floods?” said Okto.
“We have to stay positive despite the fact that [no early-warning system] could be one of the considerations that fails us as an Olympics host. We can avoid such a scenario if we show improvement.”
On the other hand, NOC executive committee Rafiq Radinal said the “river normalization” in Jakarta should be conducted immediately to prevent floods striking the capital.
The recent flooding has led to arguments among officials and politicians divided between “river normalization” and “river naturalization” camps.
The Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono has pushed for a normalization program to widen the Ciliwung River, install concrete piling along the river and build a road for motor vehicles, all of which will require evictions.
Meanwhile Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan is on the side of a naturalization program that replaces concrete piling with river stones and transforms riverbanks into green public spaces.
