In Jakarta, that sinking feeling is all too real

Bill Tarrant at the Thomson Reuters Foundation via Reuters: …"Jakarta is a bowl, and the bowl is sinking," said Fook Chuan Eng, senior water and sanitation specialist with the World Bank, who oversees a $189 million flood mitigation project for the city.

The channels of the Ciliwung and other rivers are sinking. The entire sprawl of Jakarta's north coast - fishing ports, boatyards, markets, warehouses, fish farms, crowded slums and exclusive gated communities - it's all sinking. Even the 40-year-old seawall that is supposed to keep the Java Sea from inundating the Indonesian capital is sinking.

…Flooding from overflowing rivers and canals in the area is at least an annual event that forces Rahmawati and the rest of the kampong to evacuate to public buildings nearby. High-water marks from the last big flood, in 2013, are still visible on the walls of the kampong.

Jakarta is sinking because of a phenomenon called subsidence. This happens when extraction of groundwater causes layers of rock and sediment to slowly pancake on top of each other.

The problem is particularly acute in Jakarta because most of its millions of residents suck water through wells that tap shallow underground aquifers. Wells also provide about a third of the needs of business and industry, according to city data….

Jakarta's skyline, shot by Vian kadal, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Floods force thousands to evacuate in Indonesian capital

Kanupriya Kapoor in Reuters: Monsoon rains have inundated parts of the Indonesian capital, forcing more than 30,000 people to evacuate and posing a challenge for its wildly popular governor, Joko Widodo, a possible presidential candidate. Soldiers were deployed to help nearly 50,000 residents in the sprawling city of 10 million people, as floodwaters reached three meters (9.8 ft) in some districts, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

Last year's rainy season brought Jakarta to a standstill, causing a river in the city to breach its banks and swamp the central business district, leaving thousands stranded and causing $580 million in damage to property and companies.

Heavy rains are forecast this week, potentially worsening floods which have killed seven people, mostly from electrocution, and forced thousands to seek refuge at temporary shelters, including schools and mosques.

Jokowi, as the governor is known locally, came to office in late 2012 with promises to improve the city's creaky infrastructure, strained by chronic floods and traffic. The presidential favorite has since launched a number of initiatives to alleviate flooding, including clearing riverbanks of illegal housing and rubbish, and creating more green spaces and drainage to absorb rainwater.

But until those efforts show results, he could face criticism over flood management, especially if the waters rise and more districts are affected. The floods have already caused about $80 million in damage, said the Disaster Mitigation Agency...

A car during a January 2013 flood in Jakarta, VOA Indonesian Service

Sinking cities in Indonesia caused by groundwater and gas extraction

Rosenstiel School of Marine &Atmospheric Sciences News: Jakarta and several other major Indonesia cities are sinking at alarming rates of up to 22 cm per year, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. This rapid land subsidence of major cities, due to extraction of groundwater for industrial use, is likely to put the densely populated coastal regions below sea level in less than two decades.

"Our study shows that some parts of Jakarta, and elsewhere in Indonesia, will be below sea level in less than 20 years if they don't stop pumping groundwater," said Rosenstiel School Professor Falk Amelung, a co-author of the study.

...The researchers attributed this rapid land subsidence to groundwater extraction in four major urban areas, including in the capital and largest city of Jakarta (population: 9.5 million), Bandung (population: 2.4 million), Pekalongan (population: 200,000), and Semarang (population: 1.5 million). Indonesia's municipal water supply serves only 25% of its more than 240 million people therefore the majority of the population and industries rely heavily on groundwater extraction for water. Land subsidence from gas field exploitation was also shown to occur near the Indonesian cities of Lhokseumawe and in the Sidoarjo regency.

Unlike Venice, which is sinking at a rate of 2 to 3 millimeters per year, heavily developed regions of Indonesia, including in Jakarta and five other major cities are sinking at rates of tens of centimeters per year.

..."Since these cities are close to sea level and because the subsidence is extremely rapid, the societal impacts could be huge, both in terms of water resources and sinking of the land relative to the ocean," said Chaussard. "Understanding of the processes involved and continuing the monitoring are thus critical for mitigation purposes."....

An aerial view of north Jakarta, shot by Amelia Guo, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Jakarta faces up to a high flood-risk future

Bruno Philip in the Guardian (UK): On 17 January water flooded into several Jakarta neighbourhoods, claiming more than a dozen lives and causing the evacuation of 18,000 residents. Even the city centre was affected. The papers featured pictures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paddling in the garden of his official residence, his trousers rolled up to the knee.

"I have sent a letter to the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to move the clouds to the north [the sea]," city governor Joko Widodo told reporters at city hall last month. He did not go into details about how this might be done, explaining that it was possible to use weather engineering technology to control clouds. Indonesian meteorologist Armi Susandi was dubious about this strategy's chances of success. "Most likely the rain will fall in Jakarta instead of the sea," he told the daily Jakarta Post.

Floods are a recurrent problem for the Indonesian capital. In 2007, harsh conditions caused 50 fatalities and displaced 300,000 people. According to specialists, channels need to be built to contain the city's 13 rivers, with tunnels to divert floodwater and pumping stations on the northern, seaward side.

Widodo admitted that combating flooding is an uphill task. "It's a very complicated problem. The Dutch built 300 dams and lakes, but there are only 50 left. The wetlands, woods and other green spaces north of the city have been taken over by housing complexes and malls. You can't just demolish everything," he said. Forecasters fear there will be more heavy rainfall before the end of the monsoon in March, as the battle against the rising tide remains a problem....

An 1897 map of Batavia, now Jakarta

Maybe climate change is closer than we think

Tracee Hutchison in ABC (Australia): Australia's recent re-acquaintance with devastating flooding in Queensland and northern NSW this summer has been another sobering reminder of the climatic shape-shifting wreaking havoc with lives and livelihoods across the country.

...Watching on, from the fire-prone drier states, the unspoken narrative is screaming; where will these people go? What will they do for a living? And who will grow the food they were growing for both domestic and export markets? There's even been talk from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman that some flood-prone residential areas in Queensland might have to be relocated to avoid what looks increasingly like the recurring reality of extreme flooding.

So what about when the city in question has numbers nudging the entire population of Australia? That's the reality in Jakarta right now, where record flooding has swamped the CBD for the first time in history. There is increasing talk that relocating the Indonesian capital is the only feasible solution to an escalating problem.

Jakarta is sinking. Literally. Years and years of unregulated private water-bores has drained the city's below-sea-level water table dry. The record rain, coupled with an underdeveloped drainage system and the penchant of Jakartans to use the city's waterways as rubbish dumps, brought this city of 20-odd million to a standstill of a different kind.

For the first time in years there were no cars on Jakarta's streets (other than floating ones); instead, the city more used to lumbering in a grinding traffic gridlock was incapacitated by metre-high water that turned the city's roads into Venice-style canals. It put a whole new - and rather ironic - spin on Jakarta's car-free day campaign to reduce pollution in the city.

...The implications of a non-functioning Jakarta are immense and wide-ranging both for Indonesia and the region. But this is the reality facing the new Jakartan governor Joko Widodo and outgoing Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his government, who are canvassing alternate-capital locations in higher and drier locations....

January 19, 2013, in Jakarta, shot by Thedonz at Indonesian Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Floods paralyze Indonesian capital, heavy rains continue

Fergus Jensen and Rieka Rahadiana in Reuters: Heavy monsoon rain triggered severe flooding in large swathes of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Thursday, bringing the city to a halt with many government offices and businesses forced to close because staff could not get to work. At least 20,000 people were forced from their homes in the capital and weather officials warned the rain could get worse over the next few days.

"Rain will continue to fall in the greater Jakarta area ... the potential for flooding remains," a spokesman for the Meteorology Climatology Meteorology and Geophysics Agency told Reuters. He said rain was expected to remain heavy in mountains above Jakarta, often the source of floodwater.

Four people were reported to have been killed, according to the National Disaster Prevention Agency, which urged residents to stay at home to reduce traffic congestion on blocked roads. Torrential rain was reported across much of the country, including the main island of Java and heavily agricultural area of southern Sumatra....

From a 2007 flood in Jakarta, shot by gajah mada, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Cities of Dhaka, Manila, Bangkok, Yangon and Jakarta face highest climate change risks – Maplecroft Risk Atlas

Maplecroft News: Multinational companies operating in the Asian growth economies will be exposed to spiralling environmental risks over the coming decades, according to Maplecroft’s 5th annual Climate Change and Environmental Risk Atlas , which identifies Dhaka, Manila, Bangkok, Yangon, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Kolkata as the cities facing the most risk from the onset of climate change.

Maplecroft’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), which forms a central pillar of the Atlas, classifies seven cities as ‘extreme risk,’ out of a list of 50 that were chosen for their current and future importance to global business. Dhaka, Bangladesh, (ranked 1st), Manila, the Philippines (2), Bangkok, Thailand (3), Yangon, Myanmar (4), Jakarta, Indonesia (5), Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (6) and Kolkata, India (7) emerged as the most at risk from the changing temperatures and weather systems that are forecast to take hold in the coming years.

The CCVI has been developed by Maplecroft to identify risks to populations, company operations, supply chains and investments in 197countries down to a level of 25km2. It evaluates exposure to climate related natural hazards; the sensitivity of populations; development; natural resources; agricultural dependency; research and development; government effectiveness and education levels.

With strong economic growth of above 5% forecast for countries such as the Philippines, Viet Nam, Indonesia and India in the next few years, the relevance of climate change to populations and business in the major commercial centres should not be underplayed, states Maplecroft in its analysis.
“As global corporations expand into the emerging growth markets, their operations and supply chains will become exposed to a complex set of climate risks that have the potential to disrupt business continuity,” states Maplecroft’s Head of Maps and Indices, Helen Hodge. “It is essential for companies to identify where suppliers, assets and personnel are most at risk and plan for the long term.”...

Manila Bay at night, shot by Waiting for serendipity, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Climate change drives exodus to Jakarta

Kafil Yamin in Jakarta Globe: ...Many residents of Indramayu, one of Indonesia’s “rice bowls,” are seasonal migrants to the city where there are opportunities to earn cash by pedaling becaks, running street food stalls and working as construction laborers.

Indramayu’s women, too, are part of the exodus to the cities, working the nightspots, massage houses and the entertainment businesses. Those who are not so lucky end up as domestic workers. Either way, they are vulnerable to violence and sexual abuse.

The shuttling between Indramayu and Jakarta is dictated by the rice cropping cycles. The last months of the year, September, October, November and December, referred to as the “ber” period for the last syllable of those months, form the rainy season when rice seedlings are planted.

Four months later, the paddy is ready for harvest – at least that used to be the case until the cycle began to go awry with changing climate and erratic rainfall. “We can no longer tell when it is going to start raining or when the rice is ready for harvesting, and so we just continue working in the city until we are sure,” says Sarjo. “It costs money and time travelling between Indramayu and Jakarta.”

Over the last few years, rice crops have been failing in Indramayu not only because of dry conditions but also because unseasonal downpours have inundated paddies, affecting the quality and quantity of harvests....

Locator map of Indramayu, the province of West Java in Indonesia, by Wic2020, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Making flood control child's play in Jakarta

Grace Susetyo in the Jakarta Globe: Floods, garbage and infectious diseases are three issues that perpetually plague Jakarta. And no matter what solutions the government comes up with, nothing seems to work for long. So what if a simple solution that even children could be a part of were actually available to tackle all three of these issues at once? There just might be: biopores.

Biopores, or biopori in Indonesian, are a means of increasing groundwater retention, composting organic waste and preventing the spread of infectious diseases simply by creating aerated holes. Bhuvana Nusantara, a nonprofit organization concerned with environmental conservation and climate change, has teamed up with Yayasan Kebun Raya Indonesia, a foundation dedicated to botanical gardens, to create an educational program called Sahabat Biopori in 30 Central Jakarta elementary schools since April 2009.

...Biopores are basically trails in the ground produced by the movement of organisms such as worms and insects. These vein-like trails become air passages that are capable of retaining water upon exposure to rain. To encourage the growth of biopores, simply dig a hole that is about 10 centimeters in diameter and 80 to 100 centimeters in depth. The drilling tool used is a simple metal rod with handles on one end and a hollow, curved diamond-shaped blade on the other.

...The hole is then filled with organic matter such as leaves, grass clippings and food scraps. These materials attract hungry underground crawlers, and the crawlers’ trails add extra space in the ground to absorb water....

A pre-1949 image of an anti-malaria campaign in Jakarta, searching for mosquito larvae. From the incomparable Tropenmuseum Collection, available at Wikimedia Commons

Indonesia assigns 26,500 officials to anticipate flooding in Jakarta

Jakarta Post (Indonesia): The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has allocated 26,553 officials to anticipate the possibility of a major flood in Jakarta this rainy season.

BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said it was very difficult to deal with flooding in Jakarta as it was a complex problem that required cooperation between the government, businesspeople and the community to cope with.

“Flooding is still ongoing despite the prevention efforts that have been ongoing since the 1960s,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday via Blackberry messenger.

He said that the capacity of the 13 rivers in Jakarta to drain water from the capital ranged from 17 to 80 percent of normal, because the rivers were polluted and full of silt. Sutopo said that the flow of water from upland areas into Jakarta's rivers had increased by about 50 percent over the past 30 years....

An 1897 map of Jakarta

Poor urban people involved in Jakarta’s flood handling

BERITAJAKARTA.COM (Indonesia): As the newest member in Steering Committee on a C40 (Climate Leadership) Group meeting, which focusing on climate change handling, Jakarta will take active role in the decision making on C40 Group meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 1, 2011. For start, Jakarta will involve poor urban people, who are the most affected by climate change, in handling floods as a form of attention for them.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said one of the climate change victim is poor people. Those who included in almost poor urban people category will include in very poor urban people category if hit by climate change disaster. Because of that, Jakarta Capital City Government continuously tries to deal with climate change threats quickly and effectively. This commitment is part of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target in alleviating poverty in Jakarta.

“Studies found that Jakarta’s poor people are a productive group and an integral member of this city`s economy. They are very agile and adaptive to the actions they took, either individually or within their community. But, they are also very vulnerable to flood risk impacts. They have contribution and important role in finding solutions to deal with Jakarta’s vulnerability to climate change disasters, so they must be involved in handling floods,” he stated, Monday (5/30).

…“Jakarta is experiencing rapid growth which has been able to provide opportunities for sustainable urban development, poverty alleviation and the ability to survive. Nevertheless, climate change is another threat from a variety of challenges faced by Jakarta, which is vulnerable to more extreme climate change situations,” he explained….

From the Tropenmuseum Collection, a photo of a 1949 flood in Old Balandongan in Jakarta

Move Indonesia's capital?

Veby Mega in Reuters AlertNet: Sea level rise, worsening flooding and land subsidence in and around Jakarta have prompted Indonesian officials to resurrect plans to move the country's capital - but local residents and experts say Jakarta itself will not survive unless it adapts to cope with climate change.

Plans to relocate Indonesia's central government, parliament and public offices to another province on the island of Java or to another island in the Indonesian archipelago have been proposed on and off since the 1930s because of problems in Jakarta including overcrowding and rising sea level, which has led to worsening flooding. But environmental experts now say a move is urgent to allow officials to soften the impact of climate change on the congested city of 9.6 million people.

"Moving the capital will reduce the city's burden to provide infrastructure and services to its people so that authorities can start re-planning city development," said Sonny Keraf, Indonesia's environment minister between 1999 and 2001, and now a university professor and environmental expert. Still, "in terms of climate change adaptation, it won't be easy," he added.

While a number of locations for a new capital have been considered over the years, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, parliamentarians and other officials now believe the island of Kalimantan, formerly known as Borneo, is the best choice….

From the Tropenmuseum Collection, available at Wikimedia Commons, a scene from a 1949 flood in Jakarta

Impact of climate change on Jakarta

Tommy Firman in the Jakarta Post: Coastal mega-cities in Asia are facing the adverse impacts of climate change, including flooding, rising sea levels and intense storm surges, all of which could damage housing, infrastructure and city and national economies. However, to a certain extent the issues of climate risks are still widely misunderstood and underestimated because discourse on the subject has largely been limited to circulation within the scientific community. Very little information has been systematically communicated to the broader public.

Jakarta is considered very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, the Jakarta administration still does not have a strategy to design and implement policies to deal with climate change. The central government has been more progressive, having issued several climate-related regulations, including air quality control, absorption wells, gas emission controls, bio-pore absorption holes, smoke-free zones and river and drainage improvements.

The Jakarta administration tends to focus more on disaster management instead of efforts to anticipate the effects of climate change. Instead of constantly responding on an after-the-fact basis, their efforts should be more proactive and consider long-term horizons.

...The Jakarta General Spatial Plan (RUTR) is currently under revision, but is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. The present Jakarta Spatial Plan does not take climate change factors into consideration. Appropriate indicators to assess the impacts of climate change still have not been formulated. The revised spatial plan will incorporate analysis of hazards such as flooding, land sinkage and fires. If amendments to Jakarta’s general spatial plan are under consideration, revision of the detailed spatial plan (RDTR) will also be necessary….

A Tropenmuseum photo of Jakarta (or Batavia as it was known in the Dutch colonial era)