STEP down from the train at the Tawang Railway Station in Semarang, Central Java, and you will most likely, in bad luck, find yourself in ankle-deep water. Local residents call the water which inundates the station built by Dutch architect J. P. De Bordes in 1864 robwater intruding inland from the sea.

Today nearly all the northern parts of Semarang are affected by rob, including large areas in Kelurahan Tawangsari, Tawangmas, Panggungkidul, Bulo