“Kota lama” is the old quarter of Semarang. This signature part of town was once the primary harbor area. Silt buildup has pushed the coastline back several hundred meters. Old Dutch buildings sit in near ruin and utter disrepair along streets that were once grand. Exposed brick, where plaster has been washed away along the bottom 5 feet of most buildings, makes the bulk of these large buildings look nearly condemnable.
Part of the run-away damage is a result of frequent flooding, which locals say has been occurring on a more regular and destructive basis over the last ten years. Locals were quick to point out that illegal logging in the mountains to the south has contributed significantly to the amount of flooding. The timeline of worsening “natural” disasters corresponds to the fall of President Suharto, who used timber sales in part to pump up the national economy on an unsustainable basis. It also shows the inability of the four Presidents who followed him to curb the trend of reckless and illegal logging.
Semarang sits at the foot of the 3428 meter, mountainous slopes of Ungaran. Mountain rain waters rush through Semarang now; the surrounding cachement land is unable to absorb it. To demonstrate the point, there was foot-deep flooding on roads in over half of old town and along the road to Demak while I was there. It rains everyday now during the wet season (Nov-May), but only for a few hours. Semarang does not have the infrastructure to solve this problem soon.