Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan led morning assembly for Flood Preparedness and Response 2020/2021 at Metro Jaya Police Headquarter, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (9/30).

I would like to thank Metro Jaya Police Chief for initiating this important and strategic activity

This assembly was initiated by Metro Jaya Police Chief, Inspector General Nana Sudjana and participated by Forkopimda, Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Fire Handling and Rescue (Gulkarmat) Agency, and representatives from Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

"I would like to thank Metro Jaya Police Chief for initiating this important and strategic activity. It is held as a form of collaboration and responsiveness, as well as solidarity between institutions to provide safety and comfort feeling for Jakarta people, especially in the rainy season," he mentioned.

He reminded all parties to be aware of potential for flooding in Jakarta. Geographically, Jakarta has 13 natural rivers and 3 water sources from upstream, extreme or high intensity local rain, rising sea level, and land subsidence, especially in the coastal areas of Jakarta which often inundated due to tidal flooding.

"Moreover, the La Nina phenomenon which indicates heavy, intense, and long rains. Thus our preparation becomes important. We need to focus on early warning and monitoring volume of water that entering Jakarta," he said.

According to him, flood challenges in Jakarta will be more complex because of COVID-19 pandemic. Thus he underlined the importance of flood handling by prioritizing health protocols so that floods can be handled well and flood victims are not at risk of being exposed to COVID-19.

"We will face two challenges, COVID-19 and flood. We need to anticipate flood victims from being exposed to COVID-19 in this situation by building more shelters for the victims thus they can follow health protocols. It requires special handling and preparation," he asserted.

He instructed all personnel to uphold three basic principles of disaster management in Jakarta, namely:

(1) Stay alert by continuously monitoring the potential of flood from various sources, (2) Respond quickly for flood handling, and (3) Encouraging all parties and communities to handle flood together.

"Sometimes when the flood occurred, it becomes our opportunity to cooperate with the others. Many residents are directly involved. Also, there are three key words that must be used as our guidelines; Alert, Quick Response, and Support," he closed.