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Deadly Indonesia Floods Raise Urgency of New Infrastructure, New Capital

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - The worst flooding in six years in Jakarta,
   Indonesia's capital, has killed more than 40 peoplethis week and
   focused attention on improving flood controls before the planned
   relocation of the capital.

   Nonstop rainfall Tuesday and Wednesday flooded 268 tracts in Indonesia,
   158 in low-lying Jakarta, the International Federation of Red Cross and
   Red Crescent Societies said on its website. Drainage and levees in the
   capital are considered inadequate for storms of that scale, Southeast
   Asian economists say.

   Tuesday's rainfall reached 377 millimeters (14.8 inches), a record
   since 2007, The Jakarta Post online said. The rains touched off
   landslides, trapped people in houses and prompted more than 19,000 to
   evacuate, local media reports say. The Red Cross federation put the
   number of displaced people at 31,232.

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