Arientha Primanita – Jakarta residents who haven't made the adjustment already had better learn to live with the annual floods because the problem will continue to exist for the foreseeable future, experts say.

Slamet Daryoni, head of the Indonesian Green Institute's urban environmental education division, said the cause of the flooding was quite simple: an utter lack of planning, including the lack of a proper flood-management system, as the city grew into the major metropolis that it is today.

Slamet said the lack of planning led to a serious imbalance between developed business and residential areas and the open green spaces required to absorb rainfall.

"The capital's open space can absorb only 27 percent of the total of 2 billion cubic meters of rainwater every year," Slamet said. "The rest simply flows toward the sea, creating floods in the process."

Slamet pointed to the 2007 flood that inundated 60 percent of the capital with as much as five meters of water as an example of the results of this lack of planning.

The city administration has long been criticized for frequently changing the capital's zoning plans to convert green belts and water catchment areas into shopping malls, apartment complexes and office buildings at the request of developers.

Only 10 percent of the city's 650 square kilometers is green space, less than the 13.49 percent target stated in the city's urban spatial planning scheme for 2000-10. City officials have complained that they do not have enough resources to protect green spaces, but industry experts have blamed corruption in the Spatial Planning Agency.

"It will take a strong political will from the city administration to handle the annual floods and the water crisis in Jakarta," Slamet said.

Rudy P. Tambunan, head of city development studies at the University of Indonesia, concurred with Slamet about the lack of green spaces to absorb rainwater, especially during the rainy season from November through March.

Rudy said the city administration should build a system of polders, or dikes, equipped with pumps. "With the polder system, rainwater can be controlled," he said.

The city administration has largely been at a loss as to how to prevent the annual floods inundating the capital. The city is building the East Jakarta Flood Canal, which is expected to be completed next year, and dredging 13 rivers.

But Rudy said these measures would do little to prevent serious floods, and residents should learn to live with them. "Jakarta will never be wholly free from floods and tidal surges," he said.

Slamet said it would take a paradigm shift in the city's political management to develop a proper flood-prevention system. "Local residents should be empowered. Giving aid to flood victims is not adequate. Local communities should be empowered to prevent floods," he said.