Ajomi Amindoni
BBC Indonesia
Every morning, water begins to enter Suvandi's house and the level gradually rises.
By noon, it reaches a peak of 30 centimeters in height and submerges furniture.
For more than a decade, Suwandi has watched every day as his home in Indramayu, on the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Java, floods due to the simultaneous rise in sea levels and subsidence of the land.
"My feet aren't dry even 12 hours a day."
"I feel like an amphibian," he says, eyes full of tears.
Suvandi remembers that in the mid-1990s, the coast was more than a kilometer away from his home.
But the 2014 flash floods destroyed the most important protective walls.
Without defense, the coast gradually erodes due to tidal waves.
Today, Suwandi's village in the Indramayu area is under water from dawn to midnight.
The only access to the village, a narrow stone road that is one meter wide, is almost impassable, leaving the community almost completely cut off from the world.
Suwandi and his neighbors, including Ningsih, have to use rafts they make themselves to get around the flooded village.
"I find it difficult to take my children to school," says Ningsih.
"When the water level is high, I have to transport the children to school on a Styrofoam raft."
Floods destroy everything - trees rot quickly and houses collapse.
Ningsih desperately wants to leave the village, because she believes it is unlivable.
But due to the difficult financial situation, her family has no choice.
"Even if I wanted to move, where could I go?" she says.
The land is being converted into an industrial zone.
Further along the coast, environmental activist Wasito tours the mangrove trees he has planted.
Like the residents of Indramayu, Wasito and his community in Kendal, a city in northern Java, are facing increasingly frequent flooding due to high tides, which now hit the area almost every month, compared to once a year before.
"These are the remains of yesterday afternoon's tidal wave."
"The water only started receding this morning," he says, looking at the puddles still in his kitchen and living room.
Vasito assumes that one of the causes of this problem is the destruction of green spaces on the Kendal coast, which was once covered with mangrove forests.
Mangroves are known as natural protection against flooding caused by tides.
"Some areas have been converted into industrial zones, and others into modern fish farms," he explains.
The expansion of industry along this part of the coast is largely driven by the Kendal Special Economic Zone.
It is a major state project launched in 2016 to attract investment and strengthen the local economy by providing tax breaks.
Juliani Kusumaningrum, a spokeswoman for the Kendall Special Economic Zone, rejects allegations that the mangroves were removed for their industrial complex.
"What's actually happening is subsidence - the ground along the north coast of Java is sinking," she claims.
"This mostly happens in residential areas, not within the industrial zone."
A double crisis
Java is the most populous Indonesian island, home to the capital Jakarta and more than half of the country's 284 million people.
The island generates more than 55 percent of the country's economy.
But the island's northern coast is rapidly disappearing.
Non-profit organization Climate Central, which develops models to assess flood risks for the entire world, predicts that several areas of Indonesia will be completely submerged by 2050.
The government is already planning to move the capital to another island in the coming decades.
This part of the Java coast faces a double crisis: it is naturally low-lying, making it extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change.
At the same time, land is sinking much faster than sea levels are rising.
The main cause of this accelerated subsidence is decades of over-pumping of groundwater due to rapid population growth and urbanization.
Since many areas lack a reliable water supply system, residents draw water from deep underground layers.
This causes the land to sink as if it were on a deflating balloon.
Experts warn that large industrial projects are now further accelerating this process.
The sinking coast
Along the coast, an average subsidence of one to 20 centimeters per year has been recorded.
The soil is naturally unstable, as it consists of soft, loose deposits of sand and clay that are easily compacted.
Dr. Heri Andreas, a geodetic engineering expert at the Institute of Technology in the city of Bandung, in central West Java, says that natural soil compaction can cause subsidence of two centimeters per year, with the rest due to other factors.
This area, which is vulnerable due to its geographical features, is now under enormous industrial pressure.
As many as 18.882 hectares are designated for industry such as the Kendal Special Economic Zone.
Satellite images show that areas with the highest rates of subsidence almost always coincide with the borders of large industrial parks, special economic zones, and high-rise office blocks, indicating a possible connection between these phenomena.
Dr Andreas estimates that another two centimetres of annual ground subsidence could be the result of industrial construction, as the weight of massive infrastructure, such as factories, roads and storage facilities, puts additional pressure on the soft ground.
The remaining subsidence is attributed to the exploitation of natural resources, primarily groundwater.
Although this process has been going on for decades, he believes that industrial activities are now further exacerbating it.
"The ground had already settled during the previous period of development along the north coast of Java," he says.
"The industry is further exacerbating this problem."
But Java is not the only case in the world.
Gilles Erkens, a geologist and subsidence expert at the Deltares research institute in the Netherlands, says many coastal areas around the world are sinking 10 times faster than sea levels are rising, largely due to over-pumping of groundwater.
"In about 100 years, rising sea levels will probably be the main cause of this problem," he explains.
"But until then, subsidence will be the main factor in flood risk and the cause of greater damage from those floods."
Erkens says it is "quite possible that the new factories are causing additional subsidence" on the north coast of Java.
The giant protective wall of the long northern coast of Java
Ellen Setiadi, deputy minister for coordinating economic affairs, rejects claims that industrial projects are to blame for the crisis on the north coast of Java.
"Almost the entire northern coast of Java has a problem with subsidence, which was a concern for us even before the establishment of the Special Economic Zone," he says.
He points out that companies must meet strict requirements, including the preparation of an environmental impact study and a flood risk mitigation plan.
He adds that as part of the response to this crisis, the Indonesian government is planning to build a giant protective wall along the northern coast of Java.
At the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto presented a plan to build a protective wall about 500 kilometers long.
"It may take 20 years to build, but we have no other choice."
"We have to start now," he said at the time.
He later stated that this huge wall could protect 50 million people living along the northern coast of Java.
But, despite the size of the planned wall, some believe it will not be enough.
"Of course the wall can reduce the risk of flooding... and in that sense it can be useful."
"But it can't help with ground subsidence," says Dr. Erkens.
Dr. Andreas has a similar opinion, believing that the decision to build the wall was made too late and that the wall cannot stop the sinking of Java's coast.
He calls on authorities to address what he believes is the real cause of the problem.
"The cure is to control groundwater extraction," he concludes.
This article was written in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.
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