(It is my mini Research Essay in Writing Class on 4th semester )
It
is common knowledge that every rainy season, several areas in Indonesia get flooded. One of the
cities that always get heavy flooding is the capital, Jakarta. The flooding in 2013 began on Tuesday, 15 January, in some parts of the
city as a result of heavy rains and waterways clogged with garbage and other
kinds of debris. On January 16, heavy rains poured on Jakarta
and its hinterland in Puncak and Bogor
area. Serious flooding began along several main thoroughfares of Jakarta on the following day, Thursday, 17 January 2013,
when a 30-meter-long section of Jakarta’s West Flood
Canal dike on Jalan
Latuharhari in Menteng collapsed.
Many efforts were made by people to overcome this
problem. Well, this essay aims the following questions can be answered
1. Why does Jakarta easily get flood ?
2. What is the result of the flood ?
3. What is the response of the government ?
Why does
Jakarta easily get flood ?
Jakarta, with its booming
population, is facing a challenge from anthropogenic climate change. The city
represents an exceptional concentration of 10 million people located close to
the sea’s edge and therefore vulnerable to rising sea levels. (Sukardjo, 2013)
Jakarta
is a delta city that has constantly been at risk of flooding. During the
Indonesia Delta Forum held in Semarang in
October 2010, the unabated flood problems beleaguering Jakarta
were discussed, and 13 rivers running from Mount
Gede, Mt.
Pangrango and Mt.
Salak in West
Java were identified as permanent threats to the capital city. The
quality of all river catchment areas has been degraded due to disposal of solid
and domestic waste, continuing illegal development activities and other
environmental encroachments have complicated rising sea level mitigation and
adaptation efforts. (Sukardjo, 2013)
Yayat
Supriatna, an urban planning expert, said that Jakarta's drainage system "is still the
same as it was in the Dutch colonial era" and should be rebuilt.”The
floods are caused by the failure to manage and sustain the rivers as water
reservoirs. I suggest the governor dredge the rivers because if the rivers are
deeper the better [the system] will function". (Vaswani, 2013)
What is the result of the flood ?
Because of the
flooding, it made many bad effects, in last January for example, it was the
wettest month in Jakarta.
It had blocked roads and forced businesses in the capital to close. Areas
including the central business district (CBD) were inundated and traffic was
grid-locked as residents struggled to move around the city.
With around
95,000 people affected in different areas of the city, authorities have
declared a state of emergency to allow use of national funds and other
resources. About 19,000 people have relocated from the worst affected districts
to safer areas. Even there were some people had killed. ( Quiano and Mullen,
2013).
What is
the response of the government ?
The Jakarta administration,
together with the central government, has planned a number of flood-mitigation
efforts, including rehabilitation of rivers and the construction of giant sea
walls on the northern coast, water reservoirs, floodways and multi-purpose deep
tunnels. (Adamrah, 2013)
The Governor of
Jakarta, Joko Widodo said that will be finding solutions to problems that
previous administrations failed to address because of corruption or political
infighting. Additionally, despite government promises to increase spending on
infrastructure in recent years, projects have been held up by problems with
land acquisition or by public resistance. Mr. Joko says he is not fazed. “My
focus is flooding, traffic and improving public spaces,” he said after
listening to a proposal for a $725 million monorail project. “I am full of hope
and optimism. These problems can be settled.”
(Schonhardt, 2013)
So, from the above
we can see that
Jakarta
prone to flooded
due to the
climate
change,
and
it located
close
to the sea's
edge and
therefore
vulnerable
to rising sea levels. And
it is also caused by several rivers overflowed around Jakarta. Due to the flooding, thousand people
were suffering and it also made many business places and activities were
temporarily suspended. So far, the government has made efforts to handle the
floods that always happened in Jakarta.
References