Project 365

This is a video titled “Jakarta in Jeopardy”. It was uploaded about 2 years ago but I’ve never watched this til now. It’s very interesting. I always heard about how Jakarta could be sinking in few years time and I didn’t know if this argument came from experts / scientists or from people speculating on those issues 😛

But in this video, my doubts were cleared. Jakarta is indeed sinking. The city is expected to be about 1 meter lower than the current position — thanks to the ground water extraction done by most households and business as well as industrial giants in Jakarta. When a city develops, it gets heavier. As much water from the ground gets extracted, the whole city gets pushed downwards. So this can also be the reason why Jakarta is flooded during the time when no rains fall. Because of the sinking Jakarta — it sinks below sea level, unfortunately.

The flood that frequently occurs in Jakarta is also caused by two main reasons: urban development and rubbish. Development can’t seem to stop, every 2 years I go back to Jakarta, I always see new huge buildings or malls built. It fascinates me how fast Jakarta grows. But unfortunately, the rate of Jakarta’s maintenance runs slower than its development. And our government doesn’t seem to care about this. Can we safe our Jakarta?

According to Wikipedia, The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 20% of its area and 21% of its population located below sea level, with 50% of its land lying less than one metre above sea level. But somehow, the canals and rivers are clean, free of garbage, and most importantly have never caused any floods for the past 40-50 years! Amazing, isn’t it?

I myself think that Jakarta is not “livable” anymore. It’s waaaaay too crowded! Let’s just move to another city then 😛