The death toll from flood-related incidents in the archipelagonow stands at 46 according to officials and media reports. About 340,000 are displaced, many of them were staying with friends or family or at mosques and government buildings.
Some places are flooded up to five meters and freshwater situation is still scary. Health ministry fears that diarrhea and dysentery may break out, as well as illnesses spread by rats or cockroaches. Jakarta Post reports soaring absence of antibiotics in the city.
Jakarta is regularly struck with floods, though not on the scale as in recent days. Officials blame either poor urban planning or deforestation in Puncak or tropical storms.
The Indonesian minister, Rachmat Witoelar, predicted that some 2,000 of Indonesia’s estimated 18,000 islands would be swallowed by the sea within three decades because of man-made climate change according to latest IPCC SPM report.
More:
WHO: Emergency Report, flood map (5 Feb), Marek Bialoglowy’s Blog
Picture credit: Marek Bialoglowy
One Response to “Jakarta: more Rain expected, Flood Map, highest Alert Level”
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February 14th, 2007 at 19:58
I amazed that an article like this hasn’t recieved more national news in the united states. When Katrina happened, it got plenty of coverage, and in my opinion this incident is just as serious as Katrina.
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