Over 1,000 evacuated on east coast of Malaysia
Straits Times 16 Jan 12;
KUALA LUMPUR: More residents have been evacuated on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia since floods hit Terengganu yesterday morning, raising the number of evacuees there and in Kelantan and Pahang to more than a thousand altogether.
Up to 290 people were evacuated to relief centres in Setiu district in Terengganu, 445 in Kuantan and Pekan districts in Pahang, and 276 in Kuala Krai district in Kelantan.
Some rivers in Terengganu and Kelantan are swollen, according to media reports.
In Terengganu, the State Drainage and Irrigation Department reported last Saturday that water levels at Setiu River had risen to the danger point, causing the banks to burst.
However, by yesterday, levels had dropped back to the warning mark.
In Kelantan, the State Flood Operations Department said the number of evacuees in Kuala Krai rose overnight to 276 from 173.
Water levels at Kelantan River are above the danger point, which could cause floods in low-lying areas, according to a spokesman.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Jakarta residents brace themselves for major floods
Medical staff, rescue gear and teams on standby with peak of rainy season next week
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Straits Times 16 Jan 12;
JAKARTA: Hundreds of rubber boats and life jackets are being readied as the city's authorities and residents brace themselves for major floods next week, when the peak of the rainy season is forecast to hit the capital.
While residents in areas such as Manggarai in South Jakarta have turned hundreds of tyre tubes into homemade life preservers, the capital's five local administrations have prepared mobile electricity generators, water pumps and dinghies in case residents have to flee their homes.
Some 600 medical staff have been put on standby to deal with the inevitable spread of flood-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dengue fever and chikungunya. Search-and-rescue teams meanwhile have been trained to operate in deep water and flood-prone roads have been lined with brightly coloured poles and ropes to aid evacuation.
The massive preparation comes amid expectations of major flooding next week and in the first week of next month.
While the capital is used to inundation every year from the wet weather between December and March, it has been hit by especially severe flooding every five years or so.
In February 2007, more than two-thirds of Jakarta was waterlogged after rain poured non-stop for three days, with waters rising as high as 7m in some areas. Nearly 60 people died and more than 420,000 were forced to flee their homes, while damage was estimated at US$795 million (S$1.03 billion).
There were major floods in 2002 and 1996 as well.
At Kampung Pulo in East Jakarta, residents are preparing for the worst.
'We have floods every year - we have become accustomed to floods. But this time round, we are watching out for the big one,' said Mr Yayat Supriatna, 45, a community leader.
In 2007, residents used to ankle- or knee-high flooding found themselves completely submerged.
'The water level reached waist-high - on the second floor,' said Mr Yayat.
Jakarta's flooding is due to a lethal combination of heavy rain, clogged drains and rivers, ground subsistence and high sea tides that push flood waters back into the city.
Rapid urbanisation has made things worse.
While builders ignore urban planning rules in the rush to erect more buildings, the extraction of groundwater by home owners and industries is causing the capital to sink - 40 per cent of Jakarta is already below sea level.
The city of 13 million is one of South-east Asia's most densely populated, yet it has one of the least-developed piped water networks.
'What Jakarta needs is to ensure it can supply ample clean, piped water so people will no longer rely on groundwater-mining,' Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo told The Straits Times.
But the government is hoping that its latest efforts to minimise flooding in the capital will work.
In January 2010, it completed the East Flood Canal, which drains rainwater away from the city's eastern and northern parts more quickly into the sea. This, together with the West Flood Canal, which drains the southern and western areas, links the 13 rivers and more than 55 canals criss-crossing Jakarta to the sea.
These rivers and canals have been dredged more regularly to speed up the flow of water, while two flood-control reservoirs are being built in Kampung Pulo and Pondok Labu, adding to the existing 55.
Said Mr Fauzi: 'We have managed to reduce floods in Jakarta in general by 30 per cent since 2010.
'Hopefully, a major flood like that in 2007 will not recur.'
Kampung Pulo residents hope so too. In the last three months, they had only three minor floods - a marked improvement from the countless seen five years ago in the same period.
But some fear that heavy rain in the highlands in Bogor, West Java, would eventually result in run-off flooding their area, which lies near a river.
Said Mr Warji, 44, a construction worker: 'If Bogor and Jakarta have simultaneous heavy rain and high tides occur north of Jakarta, we would definitely have a problem.'
