Visited site:
Situ Gintung Dam (Tanggerang district, suburban of Jakarta)
3 years ago, this dam clashed and caused serious flood and land slide. More than 100 died in this accident. Even though heavy rain was natural hazard, but this hazard became disaster by two social reason.
First, ill-maintenance of dam. This dam was built by Dutch colonial government before the WWII. Its quite old! Recent years, residents around the dam reported to the authority about the clack on dyke as well as water gate. Then, government authorized budget amount to 1.5 billion Rupiah for maintenance, but finally the dam was not repaired. The budge became running road around dam because the dam was sightseeing spot. The construction of this running road make the dam safety condition worse.
Second, many people (usually poor to lower middle class) built their houses on river bank illegally. Since the collapse of Soeharto regime, land administration does not work accordingly. Many people start building their house on the bank since late 1990s. Land authority knows this illegal situation but let them go, and local government, surprisingly, issued the certification of land tax payment for those illegal building. Thus, formal institution did nothing to prevent such high risk situation according to valid regulations.
(continued to research in Padang)