To ease the suffering<\/p>\n
There can be little doubt that East Java can count the rugged
\ncoastline along its shores south of Malang among its blessings.
\nNot many other places, inside the province or outside, can rival
\nthe grandeur of the scenery along this largely unspoiled strip of
\nJava's southern coastline. The catastrophe which struck this
\nparticular area on the morning of Friday, however, is proof that
\nwhen dealing with nature, another, more fearful, aspect often has
\nto be reckoned with.<\/p>\n
The disaster struck during the small hours of Friday,
\ndevastating a number of villages and taking the lives of more
\nthan two-hundred people. Tidal waves, triggered by an earthquake
\noriginating underneath the seabed in the Indian Ocean just south
\nof the coast, swept across the land while most of the villagers
\nwere still asleep. As of yesterday the death toll was still
\nrising, with newspapers putting it at anywhere between 201 and
\n214.<\/p>\n
In the light of the aftermath of the disaster, however,
\nprecise death counts become rather irrelevant when compared to
\nthe magnitude of the grief and human suffering which the calamity
\nhas left in its wake.<\/p>\n
The Banyuwangi disaster is all the more saddening considering
\nthe fact that it came not so very long after two other major
\ndisasters of a more or less similar nature. In 1992, the worst
\nnatural disaster in recent years hit the island of Flores in East
\nNusa Tenggara province, when another tsunami swept the south
\ncoast of the island, leaving more than two-thousand people dead.
\nMore recently -- in February -- a killer earthquake devastated
\nLiwa, in the province of Lampung in southern Sumatra, killing 201
\nvillagers.<\/p>\n
Lamentable though all this naturally is, the inescapable fact
\nis that in many areas of this country disasters of this nature
\nare simply something which Indonesians will have to live with
\nwhether they like it or not. As it happens, Indonesia is located
\non top of one of the world's most volcanically active zones. On
\nmany islands the process of active mountain building continues up
\nto the very present and in many areas volcanic eruptions and
\ntectonic earthquakes are inescapable facts of life. In the case
\nof last week's disaster more than 520 after shocks were counted
\nsince the first one on Friday up to Sunday noon.<\/p>\n
The logical conclusion of all this obviously is that there can
\nbe only one effective way to deal with disasters of the kind
\nwhich hit the Banyuwangi coast on Friday -- that is by making the
\nsuffering as bearable for the population as possible. Perhaps
\nthere will come a time when it will be possible to give the
\npopulation living along the danger zones early warning of looming
\ndisasters of this particular nature. However, a more realistic
\nand certainly a more practicable course would be to get things
\norganized so that the relief work that has to be done can be done
\nwith the fewest hitches possible.<\/p>\n
This, admittedly, is not really a fresh point to bring up.
\nHowever, quite a few among us may be struck by the fact that,
\napparently, in every case of disaster so far, efforts have to be
\nmade to make sure that all assistance does indeed reach those who
\nneed it. Some of the relief aid for the disaster victims at Liwa
\nand Flores, for example, was reportedly misappropriated. Thus it
\nis not surprising that cabinet ministers visiting the site of the
\ncatastrophe have called for regular reporting on the relief work.<\/p>\n
It would certainly help to ease this process if greater
\ntransparency were effected in the handling of all relief aid
\nduring disasters. We are confident that this would also encourage
\npeople to donate.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/to-ease-the-suffering-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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