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Social perspectives on disasters in Southeast Asia
Edited by Jean-Christophe Gaillard and Pauline Texier
Introduction
Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, is a coastal conurbation of 20 million inhabitants. The monsoonal climate brings very intensive rainfall each rainy season (typically between the months of October and April). Jakarta is located within a deltaic plain where 13 rivers empty into the Jakarta bay. Jakarta's site is therefore "naturally" highly prone to flooding such as that experienced in 1996, 2002 and 2007. Flooding is today worsened by a high subsidence rate due to the city weight and water extractions ([1] Abidin et al. , 2001; [19] Hirose et al. , 2001). The floods of February 2007 were the worst in the history of the Indonesian capital. Almost 60 percent of the urban area was affected (Figure 1 [Figure omitted. See Article Image.]). Fifty eight to 74 people died and a total of 400,000 people were affected. In Kampung Melayu, located near the main Ciliwung River, the water level reached as high as 11.20 meters from the thalweg[1] . Floodwaters destroyed one hundred houses located in informal settlements. The scope of damage shows how vulnerable the communities living in Jakarta are.
In this paper, we propose first to analyze, through the 2007 event and a comparison with the last two flood events (1996 and 2002), the causes of increasing flooding. This analysis will be conducted in order to demonstrate the importance of human factors that increase both the magnitude of the natural phenomenon, and the vulnerability of the city as a whole. Then, we shall examine the underpinning and daily social, economic and political constraints which create this particular risky configuration, and explain both the direct human causes, and the behavior and coping strategies of poorest populations during those extreme events. We will focus on poor communities, as variability in vulnerability is quite high between communities ([25] Nigg, 1996; [23] Maskrey, 1999) and "generally, the poor suffer more from hazards than the wealthy" ([10] Chan and Parker, 1996, p. 314). In Jakarta, the informal poor districts are the most affected by flood related disasters. In a third part, we will provide an overview of the policies of disaster management in Jakarta, to understand why official strategies failed to limit damages...