The city is growing upwards and outwards with astonishing speed.
Jakarta now covers more than 250 square miles of what was once lush
coastal planes and forested hills.
I'm really struggling to see an area of green space that's bigger
than a football field.
It's just like a big sea of grey and brown.
It's just all buildings.
And that's rapid urbanisation gone horribly, horribly wrong.
And one result of Jakarta's transformation is having
a particularly devastating impact on the people who live here.
This city is sinking.
Current predictions are that by 2050, much of this enormous city
is going to be under water.
Some people estimate that Jakarta has got about a decade
to try and sort itself out.
The sinking is caused by Jakarta's sudden growth.
Hi!
Lacking mains water, people have long dug wells
to tap into the aquifer beneath the city.
But demand has rocketed and now water is extracted
on an industrial scale.
As a result, the ground is giving way.
Geez!
Sea water seeping up through the paving.
There.
My God!
Add to that, the sheer weight of the city
and Jakarta is subsiding fast,
in some places by up to 25 centimetres a year.
Many areas are prone to flooding but it's the people in poorer coastal
neighbourhoods who suffer the most,
despite one attempt to hold back the tide.
This is quite an incredible structure.
It stretches for hundreds of metres in this direction.
It's a massive wall but it's not impenetrable.
There's a little bit of flaking going on here,
it's been patched up here.
There is sea water coming through, there's little sea creatures
swimming about.
There's some sea algae and kelp.
As with every wall, there's always the desire
to find out what's on the other side.
Oh, my God!
Holy smokes!
This mosque went under years ago.
And behind the wall in this area,
the streets now sit more than a metre below the sea.
For people living here, it's a precarious existence.
This is insane.
The tide is high at the moment and it's flooded this entire street.
It's stretching 100 metres up that way and around the corner.
Gives a whole new meaning to seafront accommodation.
It looks apocalyptic.
There's even a man fishing in the street.
Many of the businesses here have been abandoned.
But the owners of one small shop are staying put.
I'm Gordon.
Nice to meet you. Hi.
Hello.
What's happened to your street?
And does it dry out?
When the tide is low, is this completely dry?
Can I have a look inside the shop?
Thank you.
Oh, that looks delicious.
Does the water ever get so high that it comes inside the shop?
It's been up this high?
So, does everyone have to climb onto the roof?
Can you swim?
I think you should all take lessons.
With the city sinking below sea level, it's become extremely
vulnerable to storm surges.
2013 saw the worst floods in recent years.
Thousands lost their homes.
In the aftermath, waterlogged conditions left locals exposed
to diseases like dengue and typhoid.
I just can't imagine this place has...
Has a future.
There are buildings that are derelict.
A warehouse here that's no longer in use, industries that are gone.
This little shop is the only sign of life that's here.
I think it and the people working here are living on borrowed time.