Rain, Floods Trigger Landslides Along Jakarta’s Crowded Rivers

Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, February 1, 2014

Huts along a riverbank sit inundated by the flooded river in Jakarta, on Jan. 18,
2014. Indonesia is regularly affected by deadly floods and landslides during its
wet season. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Jakarta residents should not only watch out for floods but also for landslides, which have become a critical issue in the city, according to a top official.

Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said that areas around riverbanks were particularly vulnerable.

Four housing units in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, collapsed on Wednesday as a result of a landslide. Eight households — or a total of 31 people — were affected by the disaster and needed to be evacuated.

The houses that collapsed were located close to a cliff next to the site of a river-widening project, which aims to improve the flow rate of the Pesanggrahan by dredging it and widening its banks.

The project contractor has placed sandbags along the Pesanggrahan’s banks to prevent further landslides.

Similar projects are being carried out along other stretches of the Pesanggrahan as well as the Angke and Sunter rivers, which pass through areas prone to rising water levels during the rainy season, and are part of the Jakarta administration’s plans to control flooding.

“This [landslide] is why we have to be firm about evicting residents who live on riverbanks or around dams. It’s too dangerous to build houses there,” Basuki said on Thursday.

He added that people continued to violate zoning regulations by building homes near rivers and dams without permits.

According to Basuki, low-income residents have been living around Jakarta’s rivers and dams for some 40 years.

The city administration is planning to build walls around these bodies of water to prevent landslides and relocate the residents to subsidized apartments.

Landslides also occurred in Condet, East Jakarta, on Wednesday when houses built around 10 meters from the Ciliwung River collapsed and fell onto three houses located closer to the water’s edge.

Another landslide occurred early in the morning of Jan. 19 in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, after heavy rainfall, sending two residents into the Ciliwung River when their house collapsed.

The were found alive by a search and rescue team.

More than 55,000 people have settled along the Ciliwung’s riverbanks, mostly in squatter settlements.