Coastal Inundation and Land Subsidence in North Coast of West Java: A New Hazard?

Abstract

The North Coasts of West Java are increasingly affected by human activities. The area has been utilized as settlement areas, industrial estates, and associated infrastructures including roads, school, hospital, market, etc. Consequently, this massive landuse and uncontrolled natural resources extraction have contributed to environmental degradation such as coastal erosion, accretion, pollution, inundation, and land subsidence. To date, we have so far very few field measurement data of land subsidence to support its importance. However, satellite image and on-ground observations used to determine spatio-temporal changes in the shoreline and area of inundation indicated the existence of land subsidence. Groundtruth data on selected areas also indicated the indicators of land subsidence such as damages of infrastructures including houses, roads, and sea dikes. The most noticeable shoreline changes in the North Coast of West Java are situated in Muara Gembong Bekasi and Legon Kulon Subang constituting maximum rates of shoreline retreat up to 200 and 150 m/year respectively for the last two decades (from 2000 to 2020). Whilst, the total areas of inundation in Muara Gembong and Legon Kulon based on recent satellite studies are 10.2 km2 and 7.4 km2 respectively. Coastal inundation might be linked to the combination of long-term behavior of oceanographic variables such as wave and sea level, in coincidence with hydrological changes due to river works (i.e. dam constructions and channellings) and an increase of settlement areas, fish ponds, groundwater extraction, etc. A set of preliminary engineering measures, in conjunction with sediment managing schemes, is proposed for the sustainable development of the coastal zone.