January 20, 2009

Jakarta under water again

It's that time of the year again. This is the month the Jakarta residents haunted by yearly floods. Having lived in Jakarta for about 15 years, I am so used to the routine of high waters the last few years with 2007 being the worst in my memory. It is a disgrace that nothing much was done by the local authorities to deal with these problems. It's happened before, it will happen again, and there isn't much to be done that could prevent this. It looks like floods are an annual feature for Jakarta residents. The following images were taken yesterday morning in Kelapa Gading after it had rained steadily for several hours the night before. Jakarta residents warned that serious flood is on the way predicted by end of January or first week of February. Well, we all know nature cannot be controlled, only our preparedness and response. Looks like I have to stock up lots of mineral water, instant noodles, flash light and candles.




16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Holy moly! The flood didn't get through to your house yet though, did it?

Because you should definitely give me a call, you can stay at my house instead (if it's not too dangerous to leave the house empty).

Micah's breeder who lives in Harapan Indah also had his house flooded - he'd be very devastated because all his show dogs will suffer from it :(

Anonymous said...

There's always a bright side even in this kind of situation. That's why people can still laugh (top picture) during the flood. :)

Katadia said...

Nice shots Elyani. I remembered being so excited when I was kid when the flood season arrived. I wonder at what age do we stop being "happy" about getting flooded. I hope you and your family are ok. Sehat selalu.

Anonymous said...

rumah cici kena ga?
iya nih, jakarta langganan banjir.. dulu jadi inget masa2 berjalan2 di genangan air yang ga jelas isinya ada apa aja hehehe :)

Elyani said...

@Therry: luckily no..just some puddles in my kitchen.
@Toni: LOL..that's the beauty of being Indonesian. Smiling and joking are the best remedy to stay sane :)
@Katadia: thanks, am doing ok. I loved bathing in the rains too when I was a kid.
@Fun: belum..cuma jalan rayanya aja yang tergenang. Dapur kemasukan dikit...

Anonymous said...

kenapa hanya di kelapa gading?

Elyani said...

@boy: lha wong tinggalnya di Gading :) thanks ya sudah mampir!

Anonymous said...

Aduh...memang makin susah hidup di Jakarta. Rumah pertamaku di Depok juga kebanjiran, kebetulan saya tak pernah merasakan, karena tinggal di kompleks rumah dinas di Cipete Selatan.

Akhirnya setelah mau pensiun, memaksakan diri beli rumah kecil di Cilandak, karena selama ini daerah tsb jauh dari sungai...waktu cari rumah sampai mengukur jauhnya dari sungai...Selain banjir sebetulnya ada daerah yang rawan gempa...duhh...
mungkin memang harus dinikmati aja.

Elyani said...

@edratna: memang betul Bu, lebih baik dinikmati asal persediaan lilin, air minum dan makanan instant mencukupi. Waktu banjir tahun 2007 ubi saja sampai dihargai 10,000 per kilo. Cari air mineral susahnya minta ampun karena habis diborong. Kali ini saya sudah siap2 amunisi..gak jadi banjir ya gak papa.

Unknown said...

ohmygosh. i feel nervous about my trip now...and i am bringing an overseas guest. oh no no no no no

your banjir pictures reminded me on my uni days. we fried bandeng ankle deep with filthy water, roaches and the like...cruised the upper thigh deep flood outside our dorm to migrate to another dorm. ohhh....the power of youth...

Elyani said...

@Rita : floods in general, SUCK...but look at the bright side! they make a good photography object, LOL! Don't forget to bring a bright color raincoat, with matching hat and shoes..you may need them! :)

Partai yang berdialog said...

The Indonesian citizens are enough with most of big party politics.
They want party politics that can be tested on “open dialog” and not just “party leader speech” and spreading banners.
The community, raised by a fan of PNBK is searching for more and more party politics that are not afraid for open dialog. The PNBK has been thought for long as a simplest political party that promotes more on dialog than just a big open-day type of speech. The party popularity is getting dimmed by the dialog method that are not well covered in media due to lack of funding, yet it still continue its struggles by initiating low profile open dialogs in any small regions across Indonesia.

http://pnbk-dialog.blogspot.com/

Rob Baiton said...

Great photos. I am fortunate that my part of X-malang does not flood (at least not on my side of the road.

However, all of the roads I need to go via to get to the office suffer some degree of flooding.

I always have to go past the Eastern Flood Canal that the government is building. Last week the big holes in the ground that I am assuming are going to be joined to form the canal were already full and areas around Cipinang Muara were still flooded as was Kampung Melayu.

Oh well! Maybe next year the city will be flood free.

Anonymous said...

El, foto bajajnya menarik sekali. Sampe dimana banjirnya waktu itu?

Anonymous said...

ely,sejak kapan kelapa gading kebanjiran? banjir di jkt makin hebat krn penataan kota yg ga beres. daerah hijau dijadikan perumahan dan bangunan komersil. menurut RUTR yang lama, kelapa gading dulunya daerah hijau dan boleh dibangun kalau sudah dibangun infrastruktur yg memadai seperti dam dan saluran air. tapi yg terjadi adalah pembangunan rumah, ruko dan mall gila3an sementara infrastuktur terlupakan.

Elyani said...

@Rob: you're one lucky dude! I have experienced flood in Kelapa Gading several times.

@Lorraine: banjirnya sih gak sampai masuk tempatku, foto mbak2 yang sedang nenteng kipas angin, asik nelpon dan bapak satpam itu yang diseberang jalan, karena permukaan tanahnya agak rendah. Mereka pasti kebanjiran duluan.

@Sima: Bener banget Sima, dulu disekitar Makro masih banyak rawa2 dan enceng gondok. Sekarang daerah resapan sekitar situ sudah habis jadi mall dan ruko. Padahal bisnis di daerah tersebut terbilang sepi. Makanya banyak ruko yang kosong dan malahan Kelapa Fading Trade Centre beralih fungsi jadi gereja. Kacau ya!