Word: jakarta
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Indonesians will have to wait a little longer to see U.S. President Barack Obama indulge in a bowl of bakso - a kind of Indonesian meatball soup - and visit the neighborhoods in Jakarta where he spent time as a young boy. Anticipation of visit from Obama after he attends an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore in November was high until the Indonesian press got wind of his decision to reschedule the trip until sometime next year. "Many people will be disappointed but I think they understand that he has a lot on his plate back home," says Dennis...
...country has not been immune from the turmoil of extremist violence. As recently as July, bombers attacked two luxury hotels in Jakarta, killing at least nine and injuring over...
...Bangkok feels high and dry compared to Jakarta. This year, in January, when the rainfall is heaviest, the U.S. embassy in Jakarta advised its citizens to stock up on food and water, keep cell phones charged and gas tanks at least three-quarters full, and exercise caution when driving through "small rivers." It's the sort of travel advisory you'd expect for negotiating an untamed wilderness, not a city of more than 12 million souls. Damage from a deadly 2007 flood cost Jakarta half a billion dollars - ironically, roughly the same cost as an unfinished project designed to prevent...
...flow, suggests Habib. Don't erect futile barricades against the water; instead, control its path through the city. "You can't fight nature," he told me. "It fights back." Until the 1960s Dhaka had many lakes and waterways that stored and drained floodwater, but - as in Bangkok and Jakarta - these were filled in and built over as the population exploded. Protect the surviving waterways and re-excavate historic ones, says Habib, and Dhaka will flood less...
...Canals can mitigate seasonal floods, but beyond mass relocation, nothing will proof coastal cities against rising oceans. Even a slight rise in sea level will engulf large parts of Dhaka, warns UN-HABITAT, while Bangkok and Jakarta are both so vulnerable that it is "beyond the current capacity" of residents to adapt, warns Herminia Francisco, who co-authored the EEPSEA report. This helps explains why, as I write this, the streets in my neighborhood are filling up with water. When the rain stops, one or two residents will shuffle through dirty, ankle-deep water to light incense at the local...