Seeing The Potential Impact Of Floods On The Business And Business World

It is feared that flooding in Jabodetabek will disrupt the business and business world. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - A number of business people and business actors say that sustainable flooding is considered to have the potential to hamper business and economic activities. For this reason, it is necessary to immediately anticipate the handling of the impact of flooding.

"The flood at the beginning of the year hampered business and economic activity. Even though it happened on January 1, 2020, when most businesses are still closed, the impact will be felt for several days afterward, "said Chief Economist of Danareksa Research Institute Moekti Prasetiani Soejachmoen in Jakarta, Friday 3 January.

Then, he continued, the blackout was carried out, even in areas that were not affected by flooding, but had the risk of disrupting business and economic activities. In addition, logistical activities were also disrupted due to flooded road access.

For this reason, in the short term, the government is asked to improve the monitoring system for rainfall and watersheds, as well as clean waste from waterways, bearing in mind that flooding can be anticipated.

"So the government, especially local governments, should have been able to make preparations beforehand," said Moekti.

The government also needs to prepare infrastructure for evacuation and first aid such as shelters, public kitchens, health and security facilities.

Therefore, it is hoped that the flood will not continue and recede quickly so that connectivity is not hampered and the supply of goods and services in the Jadetabek area returns to normal.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry assesses that the floods that hit Jabodetabek have hurt business people, especially those engaged in the retail sector.

Yesterday's flood was unusual, because a number of areas that had been free from flooding were also inundated. Even at some points, the water level can reach the roof of a one-story house. Many cars belonging to residents were submerged, and also washed away.

The impact of the flood on businessmen is no less bad. Business activities have stopped so that sales have decreased. Not to mention if the merchandise is exposed to water.

"Losses due to flooding are arguably the worst in retail because sales activities have been severely disrupted due to flooding," said Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for International Relations, Shinta Widjaja Kamdani.

According to him, many shopping centers were forced to close due to flooding. In addition, water enters shopping center buildings. Sellers and visitors cannot carry out economic activities like normal days.

The hotel sector is also predicted to be affected even though the loss is relatively small because hotel room sales have already occurred before the year-end holidays.

"However, this has an impact on the convenience of visitors and tourists so that the impact of non-material losses is huge for the hotel industry," said Shinta.

In the logistics sector, the predicted losses are also high, because transportation companies cannot operate as long as the transportation facilities are inundated.

Most likely, added Shinta, the logistics sector assets will be damaged by the flood, so that the repair burden will be high. Like one private transportation company whose fleet is submerged in water.

"Not to mention the loss of having to stop operations and losses if the client asks for compensation if the cargo is not delivered on time," said Shinta.

He added, the form of loss from each industrial sector is different. However, until now, Kadin has not recorded the amount of losses suffered by business actors.

"We have not yet recorded how much losses are borne by national business actors from this incident," concluded Shinta.