Jakarta is the Fastest Sinking City

Jakarta is home to over 10 million people in Indonesia. The almost-megacity is Indonesia’s capital, the center of economy, politics, and culture within the country. Currently, Jakarta is sinking and in a few decades’ time, over 10 million people will be displaced.

Jakarta has been sinking for a long time. The cause of Jakarta’s sinking can be dated back to the colonialism of the Dutch. The Dutch came and colonized Indonesia for three and a half centuries. The Dutch created canals to separate themselves from Indonesians. These canals were generally not taken care of and caused blockages which then led to diseases.

The Dutch fled to the Southside of Batavia and decided to build piped water as a centralized water source while Indonesians were left with practically nothing. When the Dutch left, Indonesia continued to build underground water pipes. As the city grew, they started covering the land with concrete; this is where the issues began.

Since the natural water source is underground in aquifers, and they are refilled naturally through rainwater, it is now depleting because there is little to no open ground left to absorb the rainwater. As the aquifers decrease, the land level starts to deplete and seawater starts to fill in.

Jakarta’s government thus far has had a very ambitious plan that can cost billions of taxpayers money to create bird-like barriers to prevent seawater from coming in. However, they have simply resorted to building barriers that should cover 120 km of seawalls - so far only 10 km have been built and it is not in the best condition to be holding sea waters at bay.

The government decided to move the capital city to East Kalimantan which has sparked criticism from the people of Indonesia because of the environmental damages it could have on the forest-rich province.

This is not the solution 10 million people need in Jakarta. Jakarta is sinking at the rate of 10 cm a year. The ground had sunk 2.5 meters in ten years. By 2050, a majority of North Jakarta would be underwater, and that alone could displace over one million people.

The government needs to adopt a solution many countries have adopted to prevent a city succumbing to seawater. It is a choice to move the capital city elsewhere; it is not a choice for 10 million people to be displaced.

Written by Savannah

Artwork by Delicia