Reinforcing Disaster Management Policies

With more bad weather forecast for next week, floods and landslides are predicted to recur. Anticipatory action by all relevant parties and comprehensive policies are needed to deal with the disasters.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

An aerial photo of the floods that inundated residential complexes of Perum Pondok Mitra Lestari (left) and Kemang Pratama (right), Bekasi, West Java, Thursday (2/01/2020).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Government policies in the Greater Jakarta area to deal with floods have weakened over the past few years. The floods that hit Jakarta and the surrounding areas on Wednesday and Thursday should be a warning to immediately strengthen policies and improve coordination between regional governments amid the high potential of extreme rains in the future.

The flooding in Jakarta in the last two days was the result of three factors, namely extreme local rainfall, high tide and floodwater flowing in from upstream areas. The floods, which forced some 31,000 people in Jakarta to abandon their homes and killed 22 people in the Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Depok, Bekasi (Jabodetabek) area reveals the unpreparedness of government agencies in dealing with floods.

According to rainfall data and the water level at the sluice gates, the flooding on Wednesday morning was only caused by rains within the Jabodetabek area, not by floodwater from upstream areas.

The Manggarai sluice gate had already reported alert level 2 status around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, while the Depok market sluice gate in the upstream area reported the same status at around 9 a.m., when the water at Manggarai had already reached a high level.

The floods that hit the Jabodatabek area at the turn of the year were not only caused by damage to the ecosystem but also due to littering.

The water level at the Katulampa sluice gate in Bogor regency also prompted the level 2 alert at 9 a.m. This means that the water level in Jakarta was already high while floodwater from upstream areas had yet to arrive in the capital.

Four rivers passing Jakarta, namely the Ciliwung, Cakung, Krukut and Sunter, overflowed. Water channels in the city also flooded nearby areas, and major roads were inundated, disrupting transportation. This shows that the capacity of Jakarta\'s rivers and waterways is no longer adequate in the face of extreme rainfall, even without the floodwater coming from upstream areas.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo requested joint efforts by the central government, provincial, district and city governments in handling the floods. The community should be also involved, both in helping disaster victims and in protecting the environment.

The floods that hit the Jabodatabek area at the turn of the year were not only caused by damage to the ecosystem but also due to littering. Therefore, all of these factors must be dealt with together.

KOMPAS/DEONISIA ARLINTA

The post-flood conditions at Pondok Gede Permai housing complex, Jatirasa, Jatiasin, Bekasi City, West Java, Thursday (01/01/2020). The Health Crisis Center at the Health Ministry recorded that as of 6:00 p.m. on Thursday (2/01/2020) up to 31,212 people were displaced by floods and landslides in a number of Jabodetabek (Greater Jakarta) areas.

"This must be dealt with altogether. The central government, provincial governments and district as well as city governments should work together in handling this. Because it is not only caused by damage to ecosystems and the ecology but also due to our mistakes of throwing garbage everywhere, a lot of things," said the President following the opening of the stock market at the Indonesia Stock Exchange Building in Jakarta on Thursday.

Cross-governmental cooperation is needed so that all aspects of disaster management can be carried out properly. Nevertheless, the main task at the moment should be the evacuation of flood victims. After the victims have been properly handled, the government should prepare the existing infrastructure to anticipate future floods.

"However, the most important thing, at the moment is the evacuation of flood victims. The safety and security of the people must be the top priority. We will discuss infrastructure issues later on, after the evacuation effort has been completed," said the President.

Regarding evacuation and assistance for disaster victims, the awareness and responsibility of all parties, including fellow citizens, should be strengthened, because the equipment and human resources from government agencies are not sufficient to deal with disasters on a wide scale, such as in the Jabodetabek area.

The safety and security of the people must be the top priority

In addition, efforts are needed to anticipate floods and disasters in the next few months. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) estimates that extreme rain will occur until February. The BNPB also notes that there are 274 regencies or cities located in landslide-prone areas. About 40.9 million residents are potentially affected by such disasters.

In the Gresik region, East Java, for example, on Thursday, the Lamong River overflowed again. At least 19 villages in the subdistricts of Balongpanggang, Benjeng and Cerme were flooded by water with a depth of 10-30 centimeters. Two residents of Gresik were still missing after being carried away by the current. Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said Surabaya was ready to face the rainy season.

The Sumberrejo area, which was flooded last year due to the collapse of the Lamong River embankment, is expected to be safe from the floods, because the embankment has been repaired and strengthened by the installation of pump houses to prevent water from flowing over into residential areas.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

People wade through floodwaters on Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta, Wednesday (1/1/2020). Heavy rains caused flooding through Jakarta and its surrounding areas, paralyzing traffic on Jl. Daan Mogot as well as other roads and flooding homes.

In Jabodetabek, flood prevention policies have not been fully enforced. Plans to build water catchment areas upstream and to replace “lost” lakes in Depok have not been realized.

"This is an old story that has not been resolved. Watersheds and catchment areas in the regencies of Bogor and Depok have been damaged and some have been replaced by residential areas. Many lakes in Depok have disappeared. The plan to build new catchment areas has not yet been realized," said the chairman of the National River Basin Area (DAS) Forum, Chay Asdak.

In Jakarta, the project to widen the Ciliwung River, commonly called the Ciliwung normalization project, has been halted for two years. As the Jakarta administration is unable able to carry out land acquisition, the Ciliwung Cisadane River Basin Agency (BBWSCC) as the operator of the project stopped the river normalization program.

In 2019, the normalization of the Ciliwung River could only be carried out on a stretch of 1.2 to 1.5 kilometers from the targeted 33 km. This is quite low compared to the 2013-2017 period, when normalization was carried out on a total 16 km, or an average 3.2 km per year. As for 2020, there is no clarity, because the BBWSCC has not received data on land acquisition from the Jakarta administration.

The head of the BBWSCC, Bambang Hidayah, said the key to long-term flood prevention in Jakarta was to increase the receiving capacity of the rivers in Jakarta, to build beach embankments and to build pumps and polders on the coast of North Jakarta.

This is an old story that has not been resolved.

"Even without the flood water coming from the upstream area, just local heavy rain will cause overflow at the Ciliwung River. It is only able to accommodate a normal rain [level] of 50 millimeters. When there is a heavy rain of 50 to 100 millimeters, the river will overflow. On Wednesday, the rainfall reached 377 millimeters," Bambang said on Thursday.

The widening of riverbanks in Jakarta relied much on the ability of the Jakarta administration to acquire the required land from the people. "Actually, in the period of 2013 to 2017, funds were available to complete all of the Ciliwung normalization targets. However, because the acquisition of the required land could not be carried out, the remaining funds were returned," he said.

According to Bambang, it did not matter what method would be chosen to increase the river\'s tensile strength, either through the construction of concrete walls on the riversides or through the restoration of the river\'s natural state. Both options would indeed require land acquisition to be carried out by the provincial administration.

For the Ciliwung River, the ideal width is 40 to 50 meters with a riverbank width of 15 meters on either side. Currently, the river channel has an average width of only 17.5 meters, with residential areas having encroached on the riverbanks.

Bambang noted that the areas along the 16-km section of the Ciliwung River that had been normalized remained unflooded. A small section is still overflowing because the normalization had not yet been completed and there are holes in some parts of the river wall.

Chay said Jakarta needs to immediately increase the city’s capacity to accommodate an inflow of water, both by building lakes and reservoirs and widening rivers, either through the so-called normalization or naturalization programs.

However, Jakarta cannot do it alone. All local governments in the Greater Jakarta area and the central government must work together to mitigate the floods. (IRE/SYA/DIT/ZAK/JOG/DEA / HLN/ IN A/NTA /INK/FAI/DIV/AYU/ DAN/ERK)