Severe Flooding In Jakarta Poem by Terence George Craddock (Spectral Images and Images Of Light)

reeling from impact severe floods that hit the city in the past
several days, Jakarta's administration acknowledges, extreme
measures are required to control flooding as a sustained rainy

season ominously approaches having discussed the issue
in depth administers realized the need to rethink existing
flood-mitigation policies extreme measures will be taken

brain flash key measures solution we urgently need to widen
all rivers throughout Jakarta city to prevent them bursting
their banks requiring evicting thousands of riverbank dwellers!

but why oh why did Jakarta's central city CBD which normally
escapes flood damage flood? Why when Jakarta experiences
its heavy seasonal rains the central business district is immune?

the reason for me is hard to fathom! it is hard for me to believe!
that the Dutch engineers who started building a dam in 1910
that was completed in 1912 to protect Jakarta from severe flooding

were that far ahead of zero achievement Indonesian engineers;
zero achievement Indonesian politics; this is the dam that failed,
completed in 1912; city was so small then, trees, jungle absorbs

water, slows flooding, concrete and asphalt roads do not!
the Dutch had huge vision the Indonesians huge apathy?
the last severe flooding in Jakarta was in 2007 when at least

40 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced
from their homes but nothing visionary was done done
Indonesian solution when flood waters come run run run!