I'm fine. I live in one of the higher parts of Jakarta, but some people at work have got water in their homes up to their waists, a friend of mine was stuck in her 11th floor flat for 36 hours (safe enough but the road outside was under 4 feet of water), and getting from A to B is even more of a problem than usual. Most offices have people arriving very late because of transport difficulties(there was a story in yesterday's paper, I think it was, of one woman who set out to drive to work at 6 a.m. and gave up all hope of getting there at 12 noon and went home) or just not coming in at all because they're dealing with the effects of the floods at home (well with water lapping at your front door and no way of knowing whether it was going to rise or not would you want to leave your kids?).
The waters have receded a little bit in most places but everyone's keeping a wary eye on the heavens. Jakarta is a very low-lying place and a lot of what is now the city used to be swamps. There are two main causes of the problems: deforestation in the mountains south of Jakarta, and too many buildings where the water should naturally go, and which were originally supposed to be water catchment areas.
As for the discussion that stales's misapprehension sparked off [steps on soapbox] it's a problem that's not going to go away. Given the improvements that have taken place in transportation over the past couple of centuries, there are always going to be people who want to up sticks and go and live somewhere else and can do it legally or illegally. Some of them are no doubt genuine refugees from wars, persecution, natural disaster etc. Others just think they can have a better life (however defined) somewhere else (CK and I, for example). Unfortunately no country can apply an open door policy and so they try and pick and choose who they let in.
The movements that cause most anxiety seem to be those from poorer countries to richer ones. Although poorer countries must bear some of the blame for their current state of affairs, it's not all their fault (and anyway the people wanting to move haven't generally had much influence over their countries' policies). The richer countries of the world (and I'm speaking generally here rather than pointing the finger at any particular country) could do more to help the poorer ones -- not by continual handouts but simply by adjusting some of their policies in trade for example to make them fairer, and thus give more people the chance to earn a decent living at home.[steps off soapbox]
Bingley
