Sidoarjo Hot Mud Flow: 3 Years in Disaster....

Hot mud flow in Sidoarjo for the first time burst in Siring village, Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java province on May 29 2006. 200 meters from the well drilling of Lapindo Brantas Inc. in Renokenogo village. For the last three years, hot mud outpouring has reached at an average rate more than 40,000 m3/day, with a temperature of 80 - 90 degrees Celsius. The"mud volcano" in Sidoarjo district has inundated 4 adjacent villages, displaying nearly 7000 people. Almost 12,000 medical treatments have been carries out, mainly for people affected by the release of hydrogen sulphide gas.

The Sidoarjo mud handling board now focusing on overcoming mud spill on the surface, rather than trying to stop the outpouring

There is no effective way of stopping the mud outpours. Some efforts to stop the outpouring that had been done included building a relief well and planting concrete balls. But everything is of no avail, although trillions of IDR had been spent. Thot mud outpouring had reached the stage of cauldron with a rapid process of deformation reaching 4 meters a day.

According to some experts, hot mud flow are geological phenomena due to over pressurized, subsurface mud layer. The cause of the eruption has not yet been established. However, it may be linked to the gas exploration activities by Lapindo Brantas Inc. at the Banjar Panji I well.

Others experts maintained that the disaster has nothing to do with drilling, but is a natural phenomenon, for the reason that the center of the outpours lies 200 meters from the drilling site, and therefore suspected of being triggered by a tectonic quake in Yogyakarta on May 27, 2006.

Picture: Reuters

Read More

Orang Utan Population Close to Extinction !!

Orangutan is one of the man's closest relatives and most enigmatic cousins in the animal kingdom, sharing 96.4 % of our DNA. Orangutan could be virtually extinct within several years after it was discovered that the animal's rain forest habitat is being destroyed even more rapidly than had been predicted. Orangutan mean person of the forest. If the forest are gone, then the orangutans will be gone too...as the forest are their habitat.
The Borneo OrangUtan Survival Foundation UK, a charity which works to rescue, rehabilitate and release the animals into protected forest, warned that at the current rate of deforestation by some industry, orangutans in the wild could be close to extinction by 2010.

According to data from the Forestry Ministry's Natural Resources Conservation Center, forest have been declining annually between 1 and 1.5% in Sumatra and between 1.5 and 2% in Kalimantan.

The forests decline was partly due to the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001, which has given regencies authority to issue any regulation they consider necessary for their respective regencies to attract new investments.
With such authority, many regencies have seen their forests decrease rapidly, bringing catastrophe to many species, including the orangutan.

The rapid conversion of forests, combined with weak enforcement of environmental laws, has also increased the human-orangutan conflicts as many orangutans start seeking food outside of their habitat.

According to Center for Orangutan Protection(COP), politicians and state officials were to blame for letting and even supporting the constant illegal deforestation in the national park.

Construction of the road destroyed the habitat of orangutans and leads to wide scale deforestation. Between 22,000 and 70,000 people have contributed to the deforestation of 23,712 acres of Kutai National Park. The park was turning into a city, with an airport, gas station, and red light district.

The COP has urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to enforce the law in order to preserve endangered orangutans in the Kutai National Forest.

The best solution is to seize and put the corrupt politicians and officials to jail. This will make their supporters leave the forests and stop all illegal activites.

Compile from: Any resources.
Picture : The Jakarta Post/JP

Read More

Sura-Madu Bridge; The New Hope For East Java

Sura-Madu Bridge 5.438 kilometers connecting Surabaya city and Madura Island in East Java province will be the new icon of development for East Java. Sura-Madu will be the longest bridge in Indonesia and even in Shout-east Asia.
Sura-Madu bridge that connect Java island and Madura island is expected to gift benefit, merit and improvement to the people of Madura.
"Since the begining of the construction, we have to involve our relatives, community figures, experts and leaders in East Java area especially in Madura. It is due to our expectation of the growth of Madura Island by the establishment of Sura-Madu bridge later, weather it is at the industrial area, services area, and so on in the very begining we have to invite and also bring the improvement to them.

There must be no distance in the expanding effort of Madura, because they are the real agent of establishment. And it may be united between their hope and wishes with our awareness and also the cooperation between central and local government, private and university side. It will produce a good synergy. We build Sura-Madu bridge for the interset of our people" said The President of Indonesia Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"We want Surabaya and Madura becoming more progressive, the people becoming more prosperous, without leaving behind the good aspect. Both religious and custom aspect" the President said.

Public Works Minister, Mr Djoko Kirmanto said that hopefully Sura-Madu bridge, the longest bridge in Indonesia would be inaugurated by the President on June 10th 2009.

The construction contract for the building of the bridge was signed on September 24th, 2004 between China and Indonesia. And the construction work began in a year after, October 2005.

"All aspecs of the toll road have been met, the government still has yet to determine the company that will manage the operational of the bridge" The Minister said.

The bridge is one of the most significant cooperative projects between China and Indonesia. With the closing process completion and the bridge in operation, the bridge can provide smooth traffic for both Surabaya people and also Madura residents. And make its own contributions to the local economic and social development.

"With the great efforts made by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, the main contractor, I am sure that the bridge can pe complete and operate on time" the Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said earlier.

Picture from: Suramadu.com

Read More

World Ocean Conference 2009

The World Ocean Conference(WOC) would be held on May 11 to May 16 in Manado, North Sulawesi Indonesia. The expected output from the WOC 2009 is the formal adoption of the Manado Ocean Declaration to e followed by action plan and the establishment of the World Ocean Forum.
The world need to be aware of the importance of oceans, and the World Ocean Conference 2009 will discuss oceans in relation to global climate change. Indonesia hopes the conference of over 120 nations will produce a tangible outcomes to assist its 17000 islands in countering the impact of global warming.

Geographically, Indonesia archipelago consists of 73 percent water and 27 percent land. With more than 17480 islands and coastline stretches as far as 95181 kilometers, which is mean the fourth longest coastline globally after Canada, the United States, and Russia.

The impact of global warming will become very evident as we are an archipelagic state. Increasing temperature will causes the ice pole melt and which will significantly impact our thousands of islands. coral reefs will be killed because of undesirable sea condition. The marine life relying on this reefs are also killed.

Indonesia has huge potential marine and fishery industries. That's why with WOC 2009 and the Coral Triangle Iniciative(CTI) 2009 summit in Manado North Sulawesi hope the global community will become more aware of the importance of oceans to the lives of human being.

Read More

Stop Exchange Kisses...!!! ; In Anti - Swine Flu Drive!

Swine flu has not yet hit Lebanon but is threatening a national custom there. Lebanese should stop greeting each other with kisses to the cheek.
According to Reuters Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh told a news conference called to explain measures to tackle the potential spread of the deadly strain.
" If you visit someone, don't ex-change kisses....Let's stop the social kissing habit," the Health Minister said. Lebanese have long greeted each other with three kisses to the cheek.

Other measures include keeping school children with flu at home and avoiding travel to countries where the viruses has appeared.
The new strain of swine flu has killed at least 150 people in Mexico. Israel, which borders Lebanon to the south, confirmed a case of the virus.

From: Reuters
Picture: The Huffington Post

Read More

Swine Flu....The Global Pandemic

All Countries in the world moved quickly to protect themselves as Swine Flu spread throughout the world. Here are some reactions and responses to the growing outbreak all over the world:

- WHO officials said that the health body had been informed on about April 9 of unusual cases of suspicious influenza from Mexico that had begun in late March 2009.

- The first death occurred in southern Oaxaca state Mexico on April 13, 2009.

- Dr Miguel Angel Lezana, Mexico's chief epidemiologist, alerted Pan American Health Organizations on April 16 about alarming occurrence of flu and a typical pneumonia in Mexico.

- US and Canadians laboratories identified the virus on april 24. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak of the never-bfore-seen virus has pandemic potential. But she said that it is still too early to tell if it would become a pandemic.

- Officials believe that Edgar Hernandez, 5 years old, of La Gloria in Mexico's Veracruz state, may have been the first person in Mexico to become infected with the disease.

- South Korea reported on April 28 its first probable case of swine flu after positive preliminary tests on a woman who has just returned from a trip to Mexico

- Mexico ordered restaurants to limit service to takeout as part of a citywide shut down to help contain the spread of swine flu.

- Pakistan has taken precautionary measures at airports and sea ports to monitor the swine flu virus. No case has been reported in any part of the country.

- The Argentine National Migration office decided that all employees in international airports in Argentina must wear facemasks meanwhile the government canceled all inbound flights from Mexico until May 4 among other measures to prevent swine flu from spreading in Argentina.

- Mexico's government kept the country's public venues locked down as it grappled with the new strain of swine flu that is suspected to have killed more than 150 people.

- Three cases of swine flu have now been confirmed in Germany, the latest European country to be hit by the increasingly global outbreak.

- Peru began monitoring passengers on flights from Mexico with swine flu symptoms.

- Countries worldwide have ramped up their border and airport checks and many are advising against non-essential travel to areas where the virus has been found, especially Mexico on April 30, 2009.

- On May 1, 2009 WHO announcement that it was raising the Swine Flu alert to Stage 5, or Pandemic status, is meant as a serious warning that we need to mobilize resources to confront this threat.

Until now Swine Flu is suspected of killing more than people and sickening more than 2400 in Mexico. And US health officials have confirmed 91 cases in 10 states.

Quote from: - The Huffington Post
- FT.com

Picture from: The Huffington Post

Read More