Jakarta Is The World's Fastest-Sinking City (HBO)

Jakarta is sinking — and it’s sinking fast, with current estimates predicting half the city will be underwater by 2030.

To cope with the unfolding crisis, the city is building a $10 billion sea wall to keep flood waters out, but that’s only a temporary solution. Parts of the city, home to nearly 10 million people, have sunk over 10 feet in the last few decades, and some areas are submerging at a rate of up to seven inches per year.

The problem is driven by the millions of Indonesians who rely on drawing water up from aquifers that lay beneath the city’s foundation to survive. And since the city was built on-top of marshlands, this practice is directly contributing to the ground’s collapse.

Finding a viable long-term solution has put city-planners, politicians and citizens at odds with one another.

Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News

Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com

Follow VICE News here:
Facebook:   / vicenews  
Twitter:   / vicenews  
Tumblr:   / vicenews  
Instagram:   / vicenews  
More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo