Going With The Flow

(Published in ASK Anggi column  in Speak! # 09 #  March 2013)

We resident of Jakarta are all too familiar with floods. But nobody was really prepared for recent disaster that paralyzed this capital of 14 million people, affecting everyone in one way or another.
 
The media reported at least 15 people died, water levels reached up to two meters in some areas and even the  presidential palace was affected in January’s inundation.
 
As a Jakartan, I wasn’t going to sit and do nothing. On behalf of UNEP-Tunza Regional Ambassador for Indonesia, I visited one of the the temporary shelters for flood victims.
 
Everything was in short supply: food, electricity, sanitary facilities. Garbage bags were pilled high everywhere. The mood was gloomy, with confused people mourning the loss of their homes.
 
I was shocked. No words can really describe how I felt.
 
Thanks God for technology, as it allowed people to keep updated with the latest information and in touch with their loves ones. It was their glimmer of hope amid the trauma.
 
Unsafe Ground
The Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG)  recently invite me to  attend a scientific gathering on “Conservation of Water Resources" in Citeko Village, Bogor. In my capacity as Chairperson of FOSCA (FOrum of SCientist TeenAgers), I was fortune to be involve in discussion with many senior scientist about the flooding.

I learn that Jakarta is actually a delta city and so constantly at risk of flooding. The flooding resulted from a large amount  of water from upstream rivers in West Java that flowed down and across the capital.

The quality of all river catchment areas has been degraded due to disposal of solid and domestic waste. A number of field surveys and scientific studies shoe a decline in tree density in the three mountains south of Jakarta, reducing their capital to mitigate water run-off during heavy rain.

So what gives? AT the moment, the city government is focusing in cleaning up the city, To remove the post-flood garbage, no less than 500 workers were sent each day to clean affected roads, riverbanks and building.

Ican, 20 a dedicated volunteer I met in one of the shelter, told me that many people are still worried about the threats of mosquito-borne viral diseases like dengue fever and leptospirosis.
In case you don’t know, leptospirosis is spread through the urine of rats, whose habitat is often destroyed by floods, and can infect anyone with open wounds who come into contact with contaminated water or garbage.

SMK 11 Jakarta vocational student Zull, 17, believes the solution for the problem is a better river management. And it seems like Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo agrees with Zull’s approach. The recent flood is a good reminder for us to be prepared, and a test of our solidarity in helping our fellow citizens.