Bahorok survivors still shocked by aftermath of flash flood

One month after the dreadful Bahorok flash flood, residents close to the disaster area in Bukit Lawang village, Langkat district in North Sumatra, are still living in fear. Rumors have it that another lake has formed as the result of human activity and is close to breaching the walls containing it, just as happened during the Nov. 2 incident which killed more than 140 people.

What really happened? Was it a natural or a man-made disaster? The Jakarta Post's reporters Apriadi Gunawan, Muninggar Saraswati and Ridwan Max Sijabat take a closer look at the disaster in this article, the first in a series of articles.

Perhaps the government and the politicians can be forgiven for their seeming forgetfulness about the Bahorok tragedy. The Idul Fitri festivities and next year's elections have managed to divert everyone's attention from the tragedy, but not the locals.

"The tragedy is still fresh in my mind. It happened so fast, it was like lightning ... there was no time to wake up my neighbors or salvage our belongings. Everything was gone in a matter of seconds," said Misnan, 30, a survivor of the tragedy.

He and other survivors are still shocked by the disaster, which killed their relatives, destroyed their houses and wrecked their futures.

Burhanuddin Rangkuti, owner of the Sibayak Leuser Motel, which was destroyed by the flood, said 30 of his relatives had gone missing in the tragedy and the bodies of only six of them had been recovered.

He said he had dreamed the accident would happen three months before it occurred. "I lost all my relatives and the hotel business I developed over 17 years."

Burhanuddin was the winner of the Minister of Tourism, Posts and Telecommunications 1995 trophy for his meritorious service to developing tourism in Bahorok district, about 90 kilometers northwest of Medan.

"The only things I have are the clothes I am wearing," he said.

Movie star El Manik, who now lives in Jakarta, said the paradise where he had spent his childhood had been destroyed.

"The tragedy happened because humankind is no longer friendly to nature and, even worse, damages the environment," he said as tears welled up in his eyes while he handed over a Rp 31 million donation from Jakarta artists recently.

The flood, near the Gunung Leuser National Park, also hit two other villages, Timbang Lawan and Samperaya, while more than 100 people, including children, are still missing or presumed dead. More than 400 houses, three mosques, eight steel and wooden bridges, 35 motels and inns, 400 souvenir kiosks, dozens of food vendors' stands, seven vehicles and two motorcycles were destroyed or severely damaged.

Some of the 200 villagers seriously injured in the incident are still receiving treatment at Djolham Hospital in Binjai. Some 1,300 people are currently homeless.

Well-known for its ecotourism at home and abroad, Bukit Lawang has now vanished and hundreds of survivors are facing uncertain futures.

Also left behind is a controversy that has developed into a mud-slinging match between the government and the public over what caused the disaster.

The government has declared the flood to be a natural disaster, while locals and environmental organizations have attributed the disaster to illegal logging backed up by corrupt government officials, councillors, businessmen and security personnel.

Locals say they believe the clearance of lowland forests for farmland and plantations is also to blame.