Rain has come to Indonesia but the problems remain<\/p>\n
By Jon Corbett and Mary Stockdale<\/p>\n
SAMARINDA: Well, the rains have finally come. The forest fires
\nin Indonesia will no longer be news in your part of the world.
\nBut life in Samarinda, in East Kalimantan, is not yet back to
\nnormal and it sometimes seems doubtful whether it ever will be.<\/p>\n
The smoke you heard so much about was only one of the more
\nobvious effects of the long drought we've had for the past few
\nmonths. The closest fires were 100km away, but it felt as though
\nthe neighbors had lit a large bonfire next door, with smoke
\nhanging in the air and large flakes of ash drifting out of the
\nsky into the house. The days were very dark, with the sun a deep
\nred glow even in the middle of the day. At its worst, we felt
\nvery worried about the effects the smoke could be having on baby
\nEmma's lungs, but by that stage the airports were closed due to
\nlow visibility and we couldn't have flown out anyway.<\/p>\n
Even with the drought, it is strange that we would run out of
\nwater, since Samarinda is on the banks of the Mahakam River, one
\nof the largest rivers in Borneo. Nonetheless, the river level
\ndropped so low that salt water reached 50km upriver, causing the
\ncity's fresh water plant to close down for fear of pipe
\ncorrosion. Samarindans are confused because they remember far
\nlonger periods of drought in the past, during which fresh water
\ncontinued to flow. Some believe the forest clearance upriver has
\ncaused the rain water to flow out to sea much faster than before.<\/p>\n
Does this mean that from now on, whenever there is no rain for
\nmore than a few months, Samarinda will have no fresh water?
\nImagine a city of 400,000 without water. It was everyone's
\nobsession. Water, water and how to get it. People in vans, people
\nin trucks, people on motorcycles, people with wheelbarrows, all
\nwent to the few wells that still had fresh water, waited in long
\nqueues, filled up their jerry cans and sold water in the streets.<\/p>\n
At least they were happy with the windfall profits, as was the
\ncompany that has a monopoly on bottled water. The price of water
\nrose day by day. The rich paid; the poor drank from the salty,
\nsluggish Mahakam River -- with the result that the hospitals
\nreported at least 40 deaths from typhoid and other waterborne
\ndiseases.<\/p>\n
The haphazard nature of obtaining water from street vendors
\nmeant that we were never sure whether each batch of water would
\nbe our last, making us strictly ration our use of it. Everyone
\nrarely bathed and seldom washed their clothes. The adults in our
\nhousehold learned to bathe with just one ladle of water each,
\nalthough we tried to give Emma her daily basinful.<\/p>\n
There were many other repercussions of the drought. Huge fires
\nburned down at least 800 houses in the city's slums, leaving some
\n4,000 people homeless. Neighbors there told us that everybody
\njust watched the houses burn, as there was no water to put the
\nfires out.<\/p>\n
Prices in the local markets skyrocketed as the rice harvest
\nfailed and the fruit and vegetable crops produced very little.
\nAll sorts of other businesses, from restaurants to food
\nprocessing plants, were closed down, and shop owners were
\ncomplaining of low sales.<\/p>\n
As we said, the rains have now returned, but even that was a
\nmixed blessing initially. You know what it feels like if you are
\nsitting next to a camp fire and someone pours a bucket of water
\non it? The choking half-smoke half-steam made it difficult for us
\nto breathe for the first few days. We were warned not to go out
\nin the first rain as the acidity level would be too high --
\nalthough this wasn't heeded by many Samarindan children, out
\ncelebrating the return of water.<\/p>\n
It is hard to believe all is normal in the rest of the world
\nwhen one is in the middle of an environmental disaster, deprived
\nof the basics of air, water, food. At least we can fly away soon,
\nbut we feel sad for all the Samarindans we will be leaving
\nbehind. They are still affected by the combined effects of
\ndrought and environmental mismanagement and will undoubtedly have
\nto face similar extreme conditions again in the not too distant
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
Dr Mary Stockdale and Jonathan Corbett are researchers based
\nat the Oxford Forestry Institute, University of Oxford. They have
\nrecently returned from a half year spent in Samarinda, East
\nKalimantan, Indonesia.<\/p>\n
-- Guardian News Service<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rain-has-come-to-indonesia-but-the-problems-remain-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }