Preventable tragedies

Preventable tragedies

In the space of only two weeks, three fatal disasters have occurred around us. On Sunday, Oct. 26, a flash flood killed at least 120 people in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra. On Friday, Nov. 7, four women died in a stampede for Rp 20,000 in alms in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. On the following day, six family members of a local prosecutor were killed when fire destroyed their home in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

This list of recent calamities do not include the terrible road accident in Situbondo in mid-October, in which dozens of students of the Yogyakarta Vocational School were killed.

However strong our empathy is for the bereaved families, we obviously cannot feel exactly what they felt.

Noted poet WS Rendra penned in one of his old poems that disaster and luck are identical; a classic Chinese story says a calamity is a kind of blessing in disguise.

However, the above deadly accidents were not 'lucky' in any way to the victims or their relatives. All of the accidents were mistakes made by others.

The Bukit Lawang fatalities were an indirect result of the destruction of forest located on upstream land. Illegal loggers and those who financed them were escaped the flash flood.

We only hope that the Bukit Lawang disaster will teach the government to be tougher on environmental preservation and conservation in this archipelago. We do expect that the military chief to stick to his word -- that he will shoot dead any soldiers found to have anything to do with illegal logging.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta