Trees cut for stormy weather<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Planting leafy trees across the city may be good to keep the air
\nfresh, but it could spell danger on stormy days as is the case in
\nJakarta when the city enters the rainy season.<\/p>\n
Jakarta Parks Agency head Sarwo Handhayani said on Tuesday
\nthat her agency had started trimming trees, especially leafy
\nones, fearing that trees and branches may fall on passersby.<\/p>\n
\"We started today with the trimming of trees near Hotel Mulia
\nSenayan. We will soon launch simultaneous activities in all
\nmunicipalities,\" Handhayani said at City Hall.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post observed several workers loading cut branches
\nfrom at least three trees onto a truck on Jl. Asia Afrika in
\nSouth Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Some workers were also seen cutting back trees that touched
\npower lines on Jl. Matraman Raya in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Sunday's heavy downpour and strong winds broke off tree
\nbranches on Jl. Jend. Sudirman in South Jakarta where fallen
\nbranches obstructed a busway lane, while on Jl. Simprug Raya,
\nSouth Jakarta, a fallen tree forced police to reroute traffic.<\/p>\n
Early last year, the violent storm Linda flooded streets and
\nuprooted hundreds of trees -- about 300 in South Jakarta alone --
\ncausing massive traffic jams throughout the city, disrupting
\ntrain services for hours and damaging houses and passing
\nvehicles.<\/p>\n
The administration apparently has mistakenly planted trees
\nthat were not so sturdy since the 1970s when Jakarta governor Ali
\nSadikin, with the goal of making the capital greener, planted a
\nmassive number of trees in the city. Such greening programs have
\nalso being adopted by other governors, including Sutiyoso, who
\nissued the slogan \"Regreen Jakarta and Chirping Birds\" (Jakarta
\nIjo Royo-royo dan Burung Berkicau) under which the administration
\nwill supposedly plant a total of 10 million trees by 2010.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, urban planners said that most of the trees
\nplanted by those governors, like angsana, kenari, banyan, palms,
\nkhaya and poinciana trees are prone to falling during heavy rain.<\/p>\n
Mahogany and tanjung are among the stronger trees highly
\nrecommended by the experts.<\/p>\n
Currently, the city has already planted about five million
\ntrees. More than 500,000 trees are old ones that reach a height
\nof 12 meters and over.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/trees-cut-for-stormy-weather-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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