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The impact of tidal flooding on a coastal community in Semarang, Indonesia

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Abstract

The article presents household vulnerability, local community adaptive capacity, and government’s response to tidal flood hazard in the Semarang coastal area, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Using data gathered from a survey of households, the study revealed a number of important factors about the interaction between people and flood. The coastal community has been experiencing problems related to tidal floods. They have adapted to tidal flooding with structural measures, such as increasing the floor level, making small dams in front of houses, increasing yard and street levels in the neighborhood area, and creating dykes around residential areas. Tidal flood mitigation in the Semarang coastal area should incorporate governmental action and local community capacities for proper protection of the population.

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Acknowledgement

This project has been done at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany, supported by The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Part of the fieldwork has been supported by Ministry of Education, Indonesia through The Competitive Research Grant scheme (Hibah Bersaing, XII/2-2006) at the Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. The authors express their gratitude to the reviewers for their helpful advice.

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Correspondence to Muh Aris Marfai.

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Marfai, M.A., King, L., Sartohadi, J. et al. The impact of tidal flooding on a coastal community in Semarang, Indonesia. Environmentalist 28, 237–248 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-007-9134-4

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