This is Waladuna Mosque in Jakarta. Its roof is in ruins. Moss covers the walls. And sea water flows
through every corner of it. The last time people prayed here was in 2001,
back when it was above ground. Today, it’s a warning sign. It signals what could happen to Indonesia’sÂ
capital city if things don’t change soon. Because, even though Jakarta
faces the same sea rising levels as other coastal cities around the world, that’s not quite what we’re looking at here. Jakarta is sinking.
And it’s been sinking for decades. These blue areas show just how muchÂ
the city has sunk since the 1970s. The darker the area gets, the more it's dropped. Here's how much it's descended today. Most of the sinking happens here,
in the north coast, where Jakarta meets the Java Sea. Here, the land is sinking by about 25 cm a year,  destabilizing the area,
damaging homes, and upending people’s lives,
over and over again. Many residents here are fishermen, who needÂ
to live by the coast to make a living, but, further inland, Jakarta’s more thanÂ
10 million residents are also at risk. A huge portion of the city, and the homes of
millions, could be underwater by 2050. Jakarta sits on aÂ
swampy plain, on low coastal land. It has 13 rivers that drain through it. But the reason the city is sinking is actually that most people here
don’t have enough water. Most Jakartans lack access
to clean, piped water. Instead, they get their waterÂ
by digging wells like this one. The pumps go deep into the ground toÂ
extract the water stored in aquifers,  underground layers of rock
that hold groundwater. The porous spaces of the rock
are filled with it. Multiply this by a few million,Â
and you have a problem. Think of the rock as a soaked sponge: the more water is extracted,
the more it deflates, causing the soil to compact and collapse,
and the ground above it to sink. Pumps alone shouldn’t be able to do this. While some layers of earth
will never recover their water, aquifers are usually
refilled naturally when it rains. But in Jakarta, that’s
becoming increasingly rare. For decades, Jakarta has been
developing at a fast pace, and is now covered in concrete. So the rainfall that would usually fill up
the aquifers isn’t being absorbed. It’s gotten so bad that in
coastal areas prone to flooding, like the fishing community Muara Baru, people have built makeshift bridgesÂ
to move through their neighborhoods. Combined with sea level rise, it's also made floods during high tide
and rainy seasons much more dangerous. Like in 2007, when Jakarta
experienced one of the worst floods in its modern history. A storm and high tide caused rivers
and canals around the city to overflow, killing 80 people. Maksim has already lost
his home to the sinking, and now sleeps on his fishing boat. And Nondho has had to rebuild
his home several times. Groundwater pumping is puttingÂ
Jakarta’s survival at risk. But to understand how it got
into this situation to begin with, you have to go back centuries. In the 1600s, when EuropeanÂ
powers were colonizing the world,  the Dutch took over what was thenÂ
the port town of Jayakarta. They razed it to the ground,
and in its place, built Batavia: a headquarters for their growing empire. They began to rule over the Indonesian,  Chinese, Indian, and Arab peopleÂ
who had lived there for centuries,  and built their new city
in the Dutch style, with narrow townhouses
along a grid of canals. The canals were used for trade, defense,Â
and to make Batavia feel like a Dutch city.  But look at Batavia from above, and you can see the city grid
served a darker purpose, too. If you look closely, you'll noticeÂ
that there aren’t many bridges between the two sides,
or between the blocks. This was by design.
The Dutch were outnumbered. So, in order to control the local
population, they divided it. It looked like this. Pretty much every group was
confined to their city quarter. The Dutch ruled over the local
population like this for over a century. But that began to change
in the mid-1700s. Because the Dutch didn’t properly maintainÂ
the canals, they began to deteriorate,  and sediment from earthquakesÂ
blocked the flow of water. The water in the canals turnedÂ
stagnant, and soon, deadly. As disease spread through the canals, the wealthier Dutch moved
south of Batavia, where they began to develop a newÂ
colonial administrative center. But, despite the death and disease, the Dutch
continued to leave the canals untreated. Instead, they began to use piped water. In the 1870s, they developed theÂ
first centralized water supply,  with iron pipes to
distribute water to homes. The pipes provided clean drinkingÂ
water and indoor bathrooms. But the pipes were concentrated in theseÂ
areas, where the Dutch had moved to. The indigenous population was left inÂ
informal settlements, called "kampongs," far from the piped water. And this created a new
kind of division in the city. Native residents had to relyÂ
on street vendors for water. But most often, they were forced to getÂ
their water from the neglected canals. It took decades before pipes wereÂ
finally built in these communities. And when they were, it wouldÂ
only be a few public standpipes. This continued through 1949. After an armed conflict, the Dutch finally
recognized Indonesia’s independence, and left. The legacy they left behind
was a sprawling city, built on marshland,
and segregated by water access, that, now, Jakartans had to deal with. Over the next decades,Â
Jakarta’s population skyrocketed. More people required more housing,
more stores, and more streets. And the city expanded fast. But its water infrastructure stillÂ
doesn’t serve the majority of the city. This chart shows how much ofÂ
Jakarta’s population has piped water. It was 12 percent in the 50s, andÂ
is still under 50 percent today. Many of the people without
access to piped water have no other choice but to keep
pumping groundwater to survive. And the city continues to sink. The situation has gotten so bad, the Indonesian government has talkedÂ
about moving the capital, from Jakarta, to the neighboring island of Borneo. But that won’t help the millionsÂ
of people living in Jakarta. To save the city, in 2014, theÂ
government announced a project,  in collaboration with a
Dutch architecture firm, to build and reinforce
120 km of seawalls, to stop the water from floodingÂ
the land as it sinks. But so far, only these 10 kilometers
have been reinforced. Like this one in Muara Baru. The problem is that, just like the restÂ
of Jakarta, the seawall is sinking. The project also includes an
ambitious $40 billion plan to build a 38 km wall,
shaped like a massive bird, to protect the coast from flooding. But this project could takeÂ
up to 30 years to complete. And by then, Jakarta could haveÂ
lost most of its coastal land. Jakarta will continues to sink untilÂ
groundwater stops being pumped. And groundwater will
continue to be pumped until the government
provides an alternative. This has been done before.
In the 1950s, Tokyo managed to stop severeÂ
sinking by providing piped water. Taipei, Shanghai, Bangkok,Â
are other cities in the region  that have managed to
stop their cities from sinking. But time is running out. Jakarta has been free of Dutch rule
for a little over 70 years now. But the way the Dutch
built their city, carved it up, and restricted its water,
plagues it to this day. Jakarta is sinking into the sea. And, until its government figures out how
to provide clean, piped water for its citizens, that will continue to be its reality. For as long as it’s still here.
Bangkok is also sinking. It was built on wetlands and most of the canals were filled in. While Miami is flooding from beneath it because of the porous surface it is built on. Head for the hills.
Call me crazy but i'd just relocate the city instead of this elaborate plan to hold off the fucking ocean?
As a dutchman I would think it would be great if our government funds a solution to aid in this problem. We are supposed to be great in water management and it would show a sliver of empathy to make up for the faults of colonialism. I don't see it happen with this government though.
If your own government is failing, simply blame the old regime so you don't have to do anything. What kind of argument is "the Dutch didn't build us a plumbing system so we don't have to either". The population of Jakarta) is 20 times larger then it was under Dutch rule, so even if the entire city had plumbing before 1949 it would only account for 5% of its inhabitants. There are plenty enough arguments that colonialism is bad, but this is just dumb.
Timor's revenge.
What year did the cause of Doggerland flooding end?
Indonesia has had decades of ineffectual and corrupt government, explosive population growth and internal migration focused on Jakarta.
I know, let’s blame white people from 200 years ago!
It’s lame to blame the original town planners.
Imperialism was horrible, bat a certain point you have to take responsibility for your own country, especially if you’ve literally had decades of independence. But no, let’s keep cranking out babies, enriching the upper class, and promote religious extremism.