In the last three days the rain falls heavily in Jakarta and neighboring towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.
And today, Thursday 17 January, the heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding in most parts of the city forcing many government and business offices to close because their staffs cannot come to work.
The media reported that thousands of people in Jakarta and vicinity have been forced to leave their homes, the Presidential Palace was flooded that President SBY (the above photo) has to rescheduled his meeting with Argentinian President from morning to afternoon. The Busway transportation network has to stop its operation at 9.15 am, and trains from out of town must stop at certain train stations that are not flooded, cannot reach the city's downtown.
According to an official of the Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysical Agency the rainfall could get worse in the next few days.
Considering the above facts, the Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo a.k.a Jokowi, has placed the capital city under state of emergency starting today until 27 January 2013. The announcement was made after he discussed with the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare and the Head of National Disaster Mitigation Agency at his office earlier today.
Under this emergency status, the municipality government to take extraordinary actions to respond to the flooding crisis. According to Jokowi, this is a short term solution for the flood which enable the government to purchase necessary things like toilets, blankets and other needs without going through a tender.
Meanwhile, the Police and the Army has send their men to help victims of the flood.
4 comments:
It's pretty catastrophic - on a personal and an economic level.
It's clear a complete overhaul of water-management is necessary. A kind of mega Deltaplan, a comprehensive long term project of dykes,levees, embankments, flood barriers, pumping stations,overflow areas, sewage systems...
And it's equally clear it's unlikely the ultimate solution will be accomplished soon.
Let's for now hope no more casualties will occur and that all Jakartans will be able to hang on till this plaque will be over. Which hopefully will be soon.
Hi Colson,
Catastrophic is the right work to describe the flood that inundated so many parts of Jakarta today.
We definitely must learn from Holland in coping with the problem.
Oh dear! I'm sorry to see the flooding. However, it's good to see you back at this blog.
Hi Linda,
Yes Jakarta has been devastated by the flood.
Glad to see you back on my blog, thanks Linda.
Post a Comment