Aceh hit by power blackouts<\/p>\n
Bernie K. Moestafa and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
\nLhokseumawe, Aceh<\/p>\n
Frequent power blackouts have added to the suffering of the
\nAcehnese as conflict and martial law, which will enter its fourth
\nweek, continued unabated.<\/p>\n
Hospitals and households are affected the most by the power
\noutages, which have become frequent in the strife-torn province
\nover the past two years. An official with the local state
\nelectricity company PT PLN said power blackouts had taken place
\n12 times since 2001.<\/p>\n
This time the blackouts, which started on Thursday after an
\n"unidentified group of people" damaged electricity towers in
\nNorth Aceh, are affecting most of North Aceh, including the city
\nof Lhokseumawe, East Aceh, Pidie and Bireuen regencies.<\/p>\n
Due to the power outage, as of 8 p.m. on Friday, main
\nthoroughfares in Lhokseumawe, the main city of North Aceh, were
\ndeserted. In normal times, activities on the streets do not end
\nuntil 11 p.m.<\/p>\n
Local residents opted to stay home.<\/p>\n
For the Acehnese, the power blackouts have diminished their
\nquality of life. Apart from depriving people of lights and
\ntelevision, the absence of electricity also causes gas stations
\nto cease services and disrupts automatic teller machines.<\/p>\n
Cut Meutia Hospital in Lhokseumawe was also adversely affected
\nby the power blackouts.<\/p>\n
Suryani Said, the director of the hospital, told reporters
\nthat the hospital was forced to use generators in order to enable
\nessential equipment to continue running.<\/p>\n
Air conditioners were off as well, since the generators'
\ncapacity is limited to lights and crucial equipment.<\/p>\n
The generators are only turned on at night. However, it
\naffected important machines such as radiology, surgery and
\nlaboratory equipment.<\/p>\n
"We operate the equipment only at nights," said Suryani.<\/p>\n
The hospital has been forced to call off surgeries for
\npatients. On Friday, the hospital only conducted surgery on two
\npatients, one who had caesarean birth operation and the other had
\nsurgery to remove a tumor.<\/p>\n
There will be no surgery on Saturday, Suryani said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, local residents flocked to stores to buy
\ngenerators. In Lhokseumawe, generators had sold out by 11 p.m.
\nDue to the scarcity, only within hours, the price of generators
\njumped from Rp 800,000 to Rp 1.2 million.<\/p>\n
"I had 10 generators, but those were sold out at by 11 p.m,"
\nsaid Apin Suwanto, a local generator seller.<\/p>\n
Most household-size generators require about a liter of fuel
\nper hour.<\/p>\n
An Indonesian military (TNI) officer based in Lhokseumawe
\naccused members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) perpetrating the
\npower blackout.<\/p>\n
The security authorities promised to investigate the incidents
\nand rebuild the broken towers, in order to restore power.<\/p>\n
Sulaiman Daud, the head of state electricity company PT PLN's
\nbranch of Lhokseumawe, said that the power outage in the regions
\ncould cost the company some Rp 240 million rupiah in potential
\nrevenues per day.<\/p>\n
He said that it might take between one week to one month
\nbefore PLN could restore the power.<\/p>\n
Sulaiman said transmission lines of PLN were vulnerable to
\nattack and guarding all of them was difficult because of a lack
\nof security personnel.<\/p>\n
"There is a tower every 300 meters," he said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aceh-hit-by-power-blackouts-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }