Jakarta Administration Makes Preparations for Floods

Jakarta (Antara) - The Jakarta provincial administration has made preparations for floods that might hit the capital city during the current rainy season, an official said. "So far, we have carried out various measures to anticipate floods, among other things by preparing structural as well as non-structural mitigation efforts," Head of the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD) said here Thursday. Structural mitigation preparations included construction of infrastructure needed to deal with flooding, such as river normalization, dams, pump installation, and absorption wells, he said. "Most of them are now under construction," he said. Jakarta could not complete all dam constructions this year as their development was done in stages for several years, while 80 percent of pump installation works has been completed, he added. As part of the non-structural mitigation preparations, the Jakarta BPBD has organized various trainings for the public in anticipation of floods, he stated. The trainings were attended by teachers, students and volunteers, he said. "In the next plan, the Jakarta BPBD will hold a meeting with the Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency to collect information about weather forecast as we begin to have rainy season," he noted. (*)