Developers blamed for fatal Jakarta floods

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent

The Australian, February 05, 2007

UNCHECKED urban development since the post-1998 economic crisis has been blamed for devastating floods in Jakarta that have killed at least nine people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Residents of the Indonesian capital began returning to their badly damaged houses yesterday as the polluted brown waters that had engulfed most of the city began receding in a few areas.

Parts of Jakarta, built on low-lying swampland by Dutch colonists, had been under three metres of water for days after sustained downpours. Meteorologists warned that further heavy rains in the coming week could make the situation worse.

The city's 10 million residents, already facing water shortages from the unusually long dry season, will now have to cope with an unusable groundwater supply due to contamination with household pollutants.

Many Jakarta areas -- including upmarket residential districts -- take their water supplies directly from wells, now rendered unusable by inadequate household sewage disposal mixed with the floodwater influx.

The weather bureau registered 235mm of rain daily at its central Jakarta office since the middle of last week. During the last major flooding in 2002, the agency said, daily rainfall peaked at 109mm.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has been criticised for declaring the current crisis not as bad as that in 2002, when more than 100,000 people were forced to flee their homes, tens of thousands were affected by a diarrhoea epidemic and the repair bill was estimated at $57 million.

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar blamed excessive construction on flood-prone natural drainage areas for the disaster. In particular, Mr Witoelar said, there were too many shopping malls in the city.