Coastal cities in Southeast Asia are sinking the fastest, scientists have discovered.
This coupled with rising sea levels and weather changes will worsen the severity of flooding in prone areas.
What form solutions should take would depend on the nature of the cities affected. 360info looks into what would work best to avert future disasters and why the time to act is now even if it means moving.
PERSPECTIVES
If your city is sinking, why not make it float? Katherine Dafforn, Macquarie University Floating cities are emerging as a possible solution for residents of many of the world's sinking megacities if they can be built and operated sustainably.
Two ways to fight land subsidence Tamil Salvi Mari, Taylor’s University Artificial recharge and deep soil mixing are two techniques showing promise in rescuing sinking cities.
How Jakarta has dug itself into a hole Bosman Batubara, Utrecht University, Margreet Zwarteveen, University of Amsterdam and Michelle Kooy, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education Deep groundwater extraction wells are built by the business elites for commercial value. Better transparency will help manage them more sustainably.
Rising sea levels could swamp sinking Shanghai Jie Yin, East China Normal University and Dapeng Yu, Loughborough University More than half the city will be under 1.2 metres of flood waters by the end of this century if action is not taken now.
Jakarta acts to stop being the next Atlantis Firdaus Ali, Universitas Indonesia Stopping Jakarta's sinking cannot happen overnight but the city is finally taking the action needed to stop groundwater extraction.
If we’re smart about water, we can stop our cities sinking Shagun Garg, Cambridge University As more cities sink, rethinking how we use groundwater can ease pressure on precious aquifers.
Interactive: Where are cities sinking? James Goldie, 360info
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
