Sunday, 27 January 2002, a large ?ood swept down on Jakarta and inundated several parts of the city.1 From the evening of 27 January to the morning of 28 January rain came streaming down, and the dike south of Jakarta broke. The pungent black water, with a hefty cargo of garbage, poured onto the main roads to Bogor, Kramat Jati and East Jakarta. In North Jakarta, in Kelurahan Pejagalan, Kecamatan Penjaringan, the ?ooding or banjir hit at midnight and continued until ?ve o’clock in the morning, reaching levels as high as 20 cm. Even harder hit was Kelurahan Kapuk Muara, inundated with 70 cm of water.2