The country's state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said in a statement on August 4 that after the incident took place, the mass rapid transit system has had to evacuate passengers from trains, while some cellular phone networks have been disrupted.
The blackout also caused traffic lights to go out in some areas of the capital, creating traffic jams. Police officers have been deployed to the street to manage the situation.
Operations at Jakarta’s international airport and hospitals remained normal using back-up generators.
The PLN said a disruption in an unspecified transmission system resulted in the failed power transfer from east to west, leading to electricity tripping out across all power plants on the central and western sides of Java. A PLN spokesperson said the company is working to fix the problem.
Jakarta is the centre for government and business in Indonesia and is home to more than 10 million people. The capital suffers periodic blackouts, but usually short-lived and confined to certain areas.
