Water: Floods and Drought

I was quite worried about the floods in Jakarta. At the beginning, I thought it was just another normal flood. But when I learnt that some of my friends evacuated from their houses, I realised that it’s certainly a real disaster. I called my dad; as usual and as always… he didn’t react much. I told him this is one of the greatest flood in Jakarta!! But he didn’t seem to worry. I think, God created him not to be panic and worried . That’s why I think if he is sent to the most dangerous place in the world, he will always remain calm and focus. It’s a good thing for me, because I’m always messed up when I’m panic, hehehe. But that’s not what I wanted to hear at this time, because I felt like he has no idea what’s really going on there. I tried to talk to my mom, but she’s always not at home. Anyhow… thankfully all members of my family are alright. I chatted with my cousin and she told me exactly what I hoped. My house is located near Pizza Hut Kemang and it’s in the highest ground. A blogger reported that roads around KemChick, Al-Azhar School, and Institut Bankir Indonesia are flooded. So I’m pretty sure that Hero Supermarket and some areas in Pusri residential complex, which are just few meters from my house, are under water.

The Jakarta floods remind me of the one we had in Jeddah. Yes, we do have it there. In fact, it happens almost every year. Rain rarely falls in the Kingdom. The city’s drainage system was not built for heavy rain. It couldn’t even flow the water out of the city when the rain occured for only 3 hours! We still lived in an apartment, so the flood didn’t really affect us. But one thing I remember about the first flood in Jeddah was the floating cars! Hehehe. As a child, I think it was kinda cool to watch this “great” phenomenon . Floating cars are rare, man!! Anyway, the government upgraded the drainage system few years later. The flooding still occured, though, but it’s not that bad. Most middle to low class family in Jeddah live in the apartments. So the floods didn’t affect them much (unlike in Jakarta, the worst victim of flooding is lower class families).

My recent experience of flood was on 2005 Hajj. There were suddenly storm and rain without warnings. Everyone was still furious about tsunami that happened a few weeks before, so when the water was starting to rise, they were panic and screamed “Tsunami! Tsunami! Allahu Akbar!” My family and I were still in the apartment when the rain started. We hadn’t done our stoning ritual yet and my mom insisted that we performed Nafar Awal [i.e. we have to do the stoning before sunset, or else we have to do another one on the next day]. So my dad, mom, and I fought the water and rain to go to the Jamarat, the place for stoning. We had to leave my grandma behind (who also perfomed Hajj with us at the time) because it was too dangerous. We all used the huge black garbage bags to cover ourselves . It was a crazy experience. Then for some reasons, my mom and I were separated from my dad. I was just scared something happened with either mom or dad. My shoes were so slippery and I had to hold her so tight. Garbage and cans are everywhere. I had to take a longer path because the street that we used to pass was too dangerous… the water was too high… everything was floating. The water reached above my knee, but some people said it reached as high as their waists. It was a total mess!! Most of the pilgrim’s bags in the tent were floating and disappeared. I heard so many of my father’s pilgrims lost their money and clothes. But this flood is nothing compared to the one happens in Jakarta; although it already made people paranoid.

By the way, regarding floods, Jakarta is not alone. While Southeast Queensland (including Brisbane) is currently experiencing the worst drought on record, Northern Queensland is under water due to heavy rain. A recent category 2 Cyclone Nelson has caused more flooding to the North part of Queensland. But that’s not it. Fears of crocodiles and other dangerous reptiles are growing. A 3.5m crocodile was spotted swimming near Ingham a few days ago . Unfortunately for Brisbane, rain rarely fell in the region where its water supply has reached 22% of its capacity. Despite the level 4 water restrictions being applied, the government predicts that dams across Southeast Queensland could reach as low as 7% by next year. The government also said that level 5 water restrictions could be imposed in Southeast Queensland by July 2007. Billions of dollars projects for recycled water and desalination plant have recently been approved. Although many people oppose using recycled water (from sewage), the government responded that they really have NO choice. Other states in Australia, like Victoria, Western Australia, and New South Wales, have also suffered from severe drought. But the worst victim of all is definitely the farmers. It has been reported that one Australian farmer commits suicide every four days. The Federal Government recently launched a $360 million drought plan to help these people. Supermarket giants: Coles and Woolworth pledge support for drought relief. No doubt that this is the result of what Al Gore refers as climate crisis. An Incovenient Truth has opened my eyes.