Straits Times 30 May 08;
JAKARTA - THE World Bank warned yesterday that an exceptionally high tide could inundate the Indonesian capital next week, forcing thousands of people to flee homes and cutting off the highway to the international airport.
The situation - exasperated by global warming and the fact that Jakarta is sinking by up to 6cm a year - could mean flooding will exceed last November's roof- high levels in the hardest-hit areas, said Mr Hongjoo Hahm, the bank's infrastructure expert.
'This is just the beginning,' he said, as he pointed to homes reaching 1.5km inland that will likely be affected next Tuesday and Wednesday by the 18-year semi-annual tide cycle. 'It's getting worse and worse.'
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation, is one of the world's largest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to its rapid pace of deforestation. But experts say the country is also at risk of becoming one of the biggest victims of climate change.
Rising sea waters especially pose a threat to coastal cities like Jakarta, which has sunk at least 2m in the past three decades because of excessive ground water extraction, said Mr Hahm.
Eventually, the government should consider building a Dutch-style dike to protect the Jakarta Bay, he said, 'but that will cost billions of US dollars'.
One reason for the exceptionally high 18-year tide cycles was the combination of the moon's gravitational pull and an anomaly in sea level caused by Earth's own atmospheric pressure, he said.
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