Researcher: Jakarta Vulnerable To Floods Must Be Responded With Appropriate Mitigation

Jakarta floods. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Researcher from the Center for Remote Sensing Utilization of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), Dipo Yudhatama, said that the natural conditions of the Jakarta area that are prone to flooding must be responded to with appropriate mitigation with a shared commitment to care for the environment.

"If at present Jakarta does not have any buildings, it will still be flooded, even though the escalation is not large. If we already know that Jakarta is naturally flood prone, we as the people living above it should respond with mitigation efforts," said Dipo. contacted Antara in Jakarta, Monday, March 29.

Dipo said that one of the remote sensing data can be used to assess the level of adaptation of Jakarta's current spatial planning policies to floods.

Dipo said so far if floods hit Jakarta, the one who was blamed was the high rainfall, or accused the floods due to shipments from neighboring areas.

In fact, Jakarta has always been a lowland area that is prone to flooding, due to the geomorphology of its area and the existence of 13 rivers flowing in Jakarta.

Therefore, proper mitigation must be carried out and able to balance ecological and economic functions, so that flooding will not be severe.

These mitigation efforts include not developing along rivers, swamps and other water catchment areas. Then, keep the water catchment area green and functioning properly.

But, in reality, according to Dipo, people build carelessly, ignoring the environmental function of the site they occupy, so that a lot of green land, swamps, and even land (sandstone) are lost.

As a result, the natural river system and drainage that had formed a long time ago became damaged.

"River overflow water, which should be contained in swamps, there, reservoirs, flows everywhere, according to its nature, flows to a lower place," said Dipo.