Archive for October 22nd, 2007
SURABAYA - Sebagai paru-paru kota, Taman Bungkul tak hanya menawarkan keindahan dan kelengkapan fasilitas. Keteduhan dari rimbunnya pepohonan membuat banyak orang meluangkan waktu sejenak untuk menyegarkan diri di tengah panasnya matahari metropolis.
Nah, sejak dipasang spray di sejumlah pohon di taman tersebut beberapa waktu lalu, suasana teduh kian terasa di Taman Bungkul. Jika panas matahari menyengat, tak usah khawatir. Pancaran air yang menyelinap di antara pepohonan di Taman Bungkul siap melawannya.
Kini, Taman Bungkul tak hanya cantik dan rimbun, tapi juga suejuk. Benar-benar bak oasis di tengah padang pasir dan cocok dengan karakteristik iklim Kota Pahlawan ini.
Kemarin (21/10), sejumlah orang tampak duduk di sekitar pepohonan yang menyiratkan butiran-butiran air tersebut. Kesejukan tak hanya merambat lewat udara, tapi juga membuat pandangan mata menjadi segar berkat pemandangan air yang berpadu dengan pepohonan yang menghijau. (nar)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
October 22nd, 2007
BLITAR, Indonesia (AFP) — The risk of eruption at an Indonesian volcano on Java island remains high but it appears no nearer blowing, residents and scientists said Sunday.
“There have been no significant changes compared to yesterday (Saturday). Nothing much happening except for some quakes,” volcanologist Agus Budianto said of Mount Kelut in Indonesia’s densely populated East Java province.
He said temperatures at the crater have remained stable but he warned that the risks of a sudden eruption remained high, as sensors continued to register increasing magmatic pressure within the volcano.
Five volcanic tremors and two tectonic earthquakes were registered in the area in the first six hours of Sunday, said another volcanologist, Umar, from a monitoring station 7.5 kilometres (4.5 miles) from the crater.
Local authorities on Sunday continued evacuations of people living within a 10-kilometre radius of the 1,731-metre (5,712-foot) peak.
“There are a total of some 90,000 people living on the slope of Kelut within radius of 10 kilometres from the crater. They are currently being evacuated,” said Kamtono, a spokesman of the Blitar district authorities.
Kamtono said that temporary shelters have been set up at 37 locations outside the danger zone.
About 1,000 people in a hamlet seven kilometres from the peak refused to leave, saying the temporary shelters would not have everything they need.
“Why do we have to evacuate? Our daily needs would not be provided there. Whatever happens, we would rather remain here,” said one man in his 50s who identified himself only as Jo.
Upstream more than 100 men continued taking stones and sand from a dry river-bed just five kilometres from the crater.
“This is our only livelihood and we do not have money. Whatever the risk, even if we risk losing our lives, we will have to continue to work for a living here,” said one of the miners, Katimin, while piling sand for pickup by a truck later.
In a neighbouring district 40,000 people living within the immediate danger area have been told to leave.
“Not everyone has left yet because of various reasons, but we are continuing efforts to evacuate them,” said Sigit Raharjo, the spokesman of the district.
“It has been the same in the past few days, lots of tremors but nothing else. Many people here are used to those tremors and do not feel the need to leave,” said Gatot Subandi, the head of a disaster mitigation team in Nglegok, a sub-district of Blitar within the danger zone.
Geologists have said the eruption would comprise “heat clouds” consisting of searing gases and volcanic debris rushing down the slopes, similar to the most recent eruption in 1990 that left 34 dead.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where continental plates collide causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The archipelago nation is home to 129 active volcanoes, including 21 on Java.
Source: http://afp.google.com/
October 22nd, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Lebak, Banten
The remote Kanekes village in Banten, East Java, is filled with steep hills where sugar palm trees, bamboo and wild grass surround a small mountain trail.
This is the path leading to the village of the Badui people, an indigenous tribe that lives a strictly traditional life. The area is surrounded by rough mountainous terrain that requires considerable physical effort to trek through.
Despite the occasional extreme conditions, the Badui village is still an attractive tourist site.
“It can be rough if you’re not used to hiking though,” said Omin, a local guide to the Badui.
Omin makes his living mainly by taking tourists to the kampongs in Badui village while running a motorcycle taxi business in his spare time.
The Badui area covers more than 5,100 hectares of land and is separated into two parts, outer Badui and inner Badui with the closest inner Badui village of Cibeo 12 kilometers away from Ciboleger village. Both accept visitors cordially, but the outer area has more contact with outsiders and is thus more open to travelers.
The path to the Badui village starts in Ciboleger, a gateway to the Badui because of its proximity to Kadu Ketug, an outer Badui kampong. Ciboleger is a couple of hours’ drive away from the Rangkas Bitung turnpike exit.
On the way from Ciboleger to Kadu Ketug, stores selling souvenirs like songket (woven cloth), traditional bags made of tree bark, and grocery shops surround a steep but smooth path that leads to a big stone monument marked with a map of the Badui area. A nearby sign lists dos and don’ts for travelers and welcomes those entering Kadu Ketug, a relatively modern outer Badui kampong with 35 houses and shops that sell daily goods like coffee and cigarettes.
Some of their rules prohibit modern inventions like guitars, video cameras and sound recorders. One rule prohibits the use of soap and toothpaste in rivers.
All traces of modernity disappear past the big stone monument and all the brick houses and neon lights turn into small rattan walled huts and oil-filled lanterns.
Not too far from the monument is the house of Badui village chief Jaro Dainah. He is the liaison between the outside world and the Badui people. All travelers who want to enter the Badui villages must pay homage to him.
“All travelers must also pay homage to each kampong chief,” said Jaro Dainah.
Seventeen people have signed his guestbook this month and many of them have spent a night or two in his hut.
“We get a lot of visitors during the middle of the year, after or before that we just get occasional hikers and students,” he said.
His hut, like many other Badui huts, is a rumah panggung, a house built on wooden stilts placed on rocks or dug into the ground. Layers of thick bamboo shoots make up the floor that, according to Badui customs, must remain above the ground, while tiers of sugar palm leaves tied to the top of the wooden stilts act as the roof.
Further behind his house is a mountain trail leading into more Badui kampongs that can take a whole day to traverse. The Badui people live on a mountain in small homes surrounded by forests and small rice fields and they live independently from the outside world, although they occasionally venture out to other cities like Bandung and Jakarta to sell their handicrafts, brown sugar and honey. Even so, the Badui reject motorized vehicles as well as footwear and always move around barefoot while in the kampong.
Despite the challenging way of life, the Badui exude a tough but calm demeanor as portrayed by Jaro Saidi, chief of the Kadu Keteur kampong, who is also the leader of all kampong chiefs. The farmer — who claims to be 100 years old — looks like he is still in his 80s and is still going strong, something that he may have acquired from living the Badui lifestyle. (24)
Source: The Jakarta Post
October 22nd, 2007