The City of Semarang faces land subsidence since more than 100 years.The impact for the citie’s approx. 1.3 Mio. inhabitants is severe: not only does land subsidence affect their living environment, buildings and infrastructure, it also badly influences health and sanitation conditions and may thus diminish the individual chances for development. Counter measures to avoid flooding and groundwater salination pose a financial burden for the city administration.

The Georisk-Project aims at providing precise spatial data about the extend of land subsidence and coastline changes in Semarang based on remote sensing data. The socio-economic impact of land subsidence shall be estimated. Findings are discussed with government authorities to identify risk mitigation strategies that are to be implemented by means of spatial planning. In general, awareness shall be generated among stakeholders regarding the impact of natural hazards on the development potential for the municipality and about the need to recognize these hazards in the spatial planning processes.

The initiative is based on the cooperation of the Georisk-Project (Badan Geologi, BGR and GTZ) with Bappeda Kota Semarang. Data aquisition and analysis is done by the Center for Environmental Geology and the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation of Badan Geologi with the aid of Dinas Pertambangan dan Sumber Daya Mineral of Kota Semarang (Distamben). Round Table Discusssions are headed and organised by Bappeda Kota Semarang and Bappeda of Central Java Province.

• Semarang Land subsidence map, 1:25.000
• Semarang Coastal change map, 1:25.000
• Map of economic damage potential due to land subsidence
• Summary and Results of land subsidence workshop, 63 pages, 9 maps and 1 CD- ROM
• Facilitation of Round Table Discussions with relevant stakeholders