For some people, rain signifies something romantic. Soothing, if you’d like. The sound of muffled waters hammering down the ground on the outside is something that many people found comforting. The weather all around during the rain is usually very cordial too, making all the ‘rain moments’ the perfect time to snuggle up on your bed, slid your feet into the blanket, hug the pillow, and sleep away.

However, rain does not always come with baggage of pleasant or good things. This is particularly true especially in a place like Bandung.

The most classical problem in relation to rain season that plagues not only Bandung exclusively, but also many cities all around the country, is without a doubt: flood. Pour some heavy rain to Bandung and you will see small rivers flowing down on the streets or small ponds of lake forming everywhere. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be hesitating in driving my car or my bike on the streets of Bandung during these conditions: God only knows what kinds of problems would arise if the machine suddenly stops working because of all the water.

And not to mention that all the flood have caused some serious problems. Bandung’s financial stability is of course affected by this because some business endeavors must be halted completely because of the flooding (case in point: here) and it’s not like flooded streets are healthy for logistics. And it causes a flood of refugees, which of course will cause not only social but also economical implications as well. Many people also have lost their material possessions or even worse, their very own life because of this (example: here and here)

The funny thing is (though believe me when I say that no one is laughing), flooding is a recurring issue that always happens year after year. Repeatedly and assuredly. Logic typically dictates that a city that has been flooded numerous times with serious implications each time will learn ways to handle it well or at the very least minimizing the overall effects… but no one in Bandung seems to care about it. And not just the government too–the general public also displays the same ignorance as evident by the presence of many settlements raised on places no one should be allowed to live (on the sides of the river) or the simple lack of discipline of NOT clogging rivers/water lines with trashes and the like.

It’s just a sad proof that Bandung is just unwilling to learn from its mistakes.

Tags: Bandung, Bandung Streets, flood, rain, Travel, Unpleasant Sides of Bandung
Categories: Unpleasant Sides of Bandung

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 4:20 AM and is filed under Unpleasant Sides of Bandung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.