Monitoring How The Netherlands And Malaysia Anticipate Hydrometeorological Disasters

JAKARTA Floods that are included in one of the hydrometeorological disasters are not only Indonesia's problems, especially Jakarta. Several cities in the world are also experiencing flooding, which is caused by rivers overflowing and tidal waves. Even in a number of cities in the world, floods have become catastrophic with high levels of damage and claimed many victims.

To overcome the disaster, several countries are trying to change their approach to floods that often occur. Various ways are trying to be implemented so that floods don't happen again, until they are finally free from floods.

Quoting the netlands-tourism.com page, a third of the Dutch region is below sea level, where the lowest point is 6.7 meters below sea level. Because of that, it is natural that flooding is an unavoidable disaster in the Netherlands.

On the other hand, this geographical condition made the Dutch experienced in floods. The Dutch have been grappling with floods for hundreds of years and struggling to overcome it. One of the strategies used by the Dutch to deal with flooding is with mills. It is said that there are more than a thousand mills in the Netherlands that have been standing since 1850. The windmills function to suck up excess sea water that enters the mainland and make the rice fields drier. Quoted from expatica.com, in addition to extracting water, traditional mills also function to extinguish grains and for irrigation purposes.

The Netherlands also made many dams to accommodate seawater so as not to enter their low territory. In that case, the Dutch used dunes, floodgates, embankments, and urban planning. Not enough there, the Netherlands also built an emergency reservoir consisting of city parks and public areas, including basketball courts. That is, if floods hit the city, the parks and public areas will become emergency reservoirs that accommodate and channel floodwater.

In 1997, the Netherlands managed to build a storm wave barrier and sea waves near the port of Rotterdam called maeslantering. Maeslantdry consists of two awing gates that function to block sea water from entering the mainland. In fact, the length of each Maeslantdry door is the same as the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Another country that has succeeded in overcoming the banji is Japan. The Japanese capital area, Tokyo, experienced a land subsidence of up to 4.5 meters in the last half century, due to massive water extraction. Plus, most of Tokyo is below sea level. In addition, the congestion of Tokyo and the heavy rain made the Japanese capital span the flood.

If the Netherlands has a maeslantering, Japan develops a flood defense system called G-Cans which is a giant underground reservoir of up to 25.4 meters high. This project was built for 13 years and spent up to around IDR 36 trillion.

The G-Cans built from 1993 to 2006 consisted of very large canals and rooms, located 22 meters underground, Kasukabe, in northern Tokyo, as well as tens of poles as high as 70 meters. The Wired page said the Tokyo underground water storage system had five G-Cans cylinder rooms and each room was able to accommodate up to 13 million gallons of water. The function is that if the small rivers in Tokyo are no longer able to hold water, they will flow to the G-Cans and then move it to the Edo river which can accommodate larger water.

Malaysia's serumpun countries cannot be separated from the flood problem due to the decline in the capacity of the Klang river and the rapid development in the area. The neighboring state government then established a flood control system called the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART). This project consists of tunneling (bypass tunnel) for about 9.7 meters, making twin box culvert outlet structure, and constructing water reservoirs. It is stated that the project will be able to accommodate flood water up to three million cubic meters and drain it so that flooding does not occur in the nation's capital, Kuala Lumpur. When it recedes, the tunnel will be cleaned immediately and vehicles can be passed back.

Smartly, the project is not only aimed at tackling flooding, but also to unravel congestion at the Kuala Lumpur entrance from the south of the Iron River. In other words, the SMART project functions as an underground toll road to relieve congestion when it is not flooded.

Austria also applies high technology to overcome flooding. The Grein City Government uses high-tech anti-flood walls to solve the flood problems that often occur due to the overflow of the Danube river. The anti-flood walls have a height of 3.6 meters. Interestingly, these walls can be moved so that when they are not flooded they can be released. At the time of the flood in 2013, the technology succeeded in preventing flooding that would hit the mainland. Because it is considered effective in preventing flooding, the Austrian-style anti-flood walls became famous.

According to Haidar Alwi Care founder Haidar Alwi, the Netherlands is a clear example of how a country whose majority of territory is below sea level is able to survive without experiencing repeated floods, by creating extraordinary water defense systems, such as Delta Works and Afsluitdijk, which not only prevent flooding but also optimize the use of water for economic and environmental purposes.

The Dutch advantages in water management are not limited to the two systems. The milling country also has a Maeslantdry, which is a giant automatic floodgate system that can close sea access independently when major storms hit, as well as Oosterscheldry, a dam that can be adjusted to tidal conditions to maintain a balance between the protection from flooding and the survival of marine ecosystems.

Indonesia has actually inherited dam technology from the Netherlands since colonial times, with several large dams such as Jatiluhur, Karangkares, and the West and East Flood Canal projects in Jakarta. Unfortunately, despite having technology that is no less sophisticated, Indonesia is still facing flood problems that occur almost every year," said Haidar, Monday, March 10, 2025.

The Board of Trustees of the ITB Alumni Association revealed that the main cause of the repeated flood problems in Indonesia is not the lack of technology, but the weakness of the existing water infrastructure management and maintenance system.

The Netherlands has a waterboard, which is a special agency that is fully responsible for the management of water resources. With this system, they ensure that each dam and canal remain optimal all the time. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, we often only build dams without ensuring a sustainable maintenance mechanism," he continued.

Haidar emphasized that a good water management system is not only to deal with floods, but can also provide great benefits to the economic and energy sectors. The Netherlands has proven that dams are not just a water barrier, but can also be used to create new land, control groundwater surfaces, and produce electrical energy through hydroelectric plants (PLTA).

We have to change our perspective. Water is not an enemy, but a resource that we can use if managed properly. With the right strategy, water can be the key to food security, energy security, and maintaining ecosystem balance," he said.

Indonesia has many reliable engineers who are able to design more modern water management technology. However, the challenge is how the government and the industrial sector can collaborate with academics to ensure that these innovations can actually be implemented in real terms," added Haidar.

Former PUPR Minister, Basuki Hadimuljono said that the handling of Jakarta floods must be carried out thoroughly from upstream to downstream through multi-sectoral activities, involving all owners of interest with a common vision to solve problems in a sustainable manner. According to him, to deal with Jakarta floods, one of the keys is to return to the Jakarta Flood Control System's master plan (masterplan), which was prepared by the Netherlands through the Netherlands Engineering Consultants (NEDECO) in 1973.

The 'Masterplan' has actually been reviewed twice, namely in 1997 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and in 2007 through the Jakarta Integrated Flood Management Program (JIFMP), "said Basuki.