Land subsidence hazard in Indonesia: Present research and challenges ahead

Land subsidence has become a significant silent
hazard in the big cities across Indonesia that aggravates future
sustainable development. Land subsidence hazards hard-hit
Java as the most densely populated island. This paper reviews
Indonesia’s land subsidence hazards, particularly subsidence
cases across the big cities on Java Island, Jakarta, Semarang, and
Bandung. Generally, land subsidence research in Indonesia can be
categorized into two broad focuses: monitoring subsidence rate
and investigating land subsidence mechanism. This paper aims to
present a comprehensive summary of the current status of land
subsidence research in Indonesia and discusses the challenging
issues encountered in research and mitigation measures. A
qualitative literature review was used in this study for reviewed
articles in the Google Scholar database published in Indonesian
and English up to 2020. Land subsidence in Jakarta, Bandung, and
Semarang is still ongoing at a high rate. Its mechanism is highly
influenced by excessive groundwater withdrawal, although other
natural and anthropogenic factors also play a part. This review
proposes recommendations to alleviate the impacts of land
subsidence hazards in Indonesia and for further research.