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