http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3242775.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday,
5 November, 2003, 10:25 GMT
Sumatra illegal loggers
slammed
QUOTE #1:
"A massive pile, maybe half the size of a football pitch,
of huge tree trunks, personal belongings and the odd tin roof"
Anthony Hurford, Eyewitness
QUOTE #2:
"Sumatra has been a "time bomb" for many years;
an environmental disaster waiting to happen"
Susan Johnston, Indonesia
GRAPHIC
#1:
"How Logging Can Make Flooding Worse"
CAPTION
#1:
"Map showing location of Sumatra"
CAPTION
#2:
"Getting aid to affected areas will be difficult because
the area is remote and communications have been cut"
CAPTION
#3:
"The flooding, which may have been made worse by logging
clearing forest cover, washed away houses and tourist hotels"
CAPTION
#4:
"The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are found"
The Indonesian Environment Minister has called illegal loggers
"terrorists" - after a flash flood on the island of
Sumatra
killed at least 80 people.
Another 100 people
are missing after the disaster, which
is thought to have been made worse by extensive logging
removing cover that once retained rain.
The minister, Nabiel
Makarim, blamed corrupt officials
and business people for the practice.
The search for bodies
continues around the worst-hit
village of Bukit Lawang.
"These illegal
loggers are like terrorists," said
Mr Makarim, after talks with the Indonesian President,
Megawati Sukarnoputri, in Jakarta.
But he said: "It
is difficult to combat illegal logging
because we must face financial backers and their shameless
protectors both from the Indonesian armed forces and police,
and from other government agencies."
President Megawati
blamed the Sumatra flood on environmental
destruction.
"Nature will become
angry if we are arrogant. It will show
its devastating rage... when we treat nature with violence,"
she said.
Debris
The flash floods hit
in the early hours of Monday as most
people slept, practically wiping out Bukit Lawang, which
is about 90 kilometres northwest of the regional centre,
Medan.
The village is popular
with tourists taking part in jungle
treks in the nearby Gunung Leuser national park, and visiting
a rehabilitation centre for orang-utans.
Five tourists were
among those confirmed dead in the flood.
Guesthouses and roads
have been washed away, while settlements
have been coated in a layer of mud, logs and rubble.
An official from the
disaster relief agency, who did not want
to be identified, told the AFP news agency that there was not
enough equipment to remove the debris and look for victims.
"We suspect bodies
are buried under piles of logs or debris
of houses swept away by the flood," she said.
Logging impact
The tragedy has focused
attention once again on the rapid
destruction of Indonesia's forests.
The area is hit by
floods every year, but environmentalists
say that illegal logging has stripped the area of much of
the tree cover and other vegetation, which would normally
absorb water during the rainy season.
Click
here to see a graphic showing how deforestation
make floods worse
A contributing factor
may have been the lodging of hundreds
of thousands of logs in a waterway in the mountains above
the village, which came crashing down when the water pressure
came too great, locals said.
They said the government
had ordered the felling of hundreds
of trees for the construction of a major highway from neighbouring
Central Aceh district.
The North Sumatra governor,
Rizal Nurdin, has already blamed
illegal logging for the disaster, and said the central government
was not doing enough to tackle the problem.
The authorities have
said they may have to close the area
to visitors for up to six months.
The BBC correspondent
in Indonesia says that will have
a devastating impact on local villagers, many of whom
work in service industries.
------------------------------
Use the form below
to send us your experiences of the
flooding, or the experiences of people you know who have
been caught in it.
----------
According to environmentalists
and NGO workers here
in Indonesia, Sumatra has been a "time bomb" for many
years; an environmental disaster waiting to happen.
Foremost among their concerns is the irresponsible
destruction of vast areas of rainforest, including
the national park and orang-utan habitat area upstream
from this flood. This is but one of many environmentally
devastated areas in Sumatra. This devastation is yet
another of Indonesia's "dirty little secrets".
This secret is in fact,
not so little at all. To put it
in perspective, the island of Sumatra is the size of Great
Britain. It contains (or rather, contained) some of the
most important and largest tracts of rainforest in the
world. The rate at which these forests are being wiped
out is appalling, and its impact is far greater than that
of localised flash floods. These rainforests are the lungs
of the planet. Our lungs.
Susan Johnston, Indonesia
I travelled there for
the millennium. The Bohorok River
is always raging. The guest houses are so close to the
river; they never had a chance if there was a 15 foot
wall of trees rocks and water for 30 minutes. When you
go there it becomes a part of your life; I met so many
wonderful people. My heart goes out to everyone in Bukit
Lawang.
Michael Hren, USA.
At certain times during
the rainy season our street in
Yogyakarta (central Java) was flooded knee deep. Some
of the youngsters fashioned boards from bits of scrap
wood and had hours of fun trying to 'surf' down the road.
Ed, Hong Kong
I was caught up in
the Gujrat Flood is 1979 when the
Morbi Dam burst. The devastation was tremendous.
The only help we received was from an organisation
called 'BAPS' who now have a big temple in NW London
in Neasden. It is a Swaminarayan Temple and I went there
24 years later to pay my thanks.
Shyam Mehta, India
For the most part of
the year, I lived and work in
Bukit Lawang, where the floods have occurred. I am
currently on holiday back in the UK, but my boyfriend,
who is Indonesian, is still there. I cannot find out
how he is. Bukit Lawang, although touristy, is a small
and very close community; of which I have always felt
a part. I am desperate to return to try and salvage what
little remains. The community will pull together, and
will support each other, but at the moment I can only
imagine the devastation that has been caused.
Personally, at the
least, I have lost my home and
my possessions, and a few people that I care about.
I dare not think of the worst-case scenario - that
I may have lost the love of my life, and many friends.
Hayley Wood, UK
I stayed at the Jungle
Inn Bukit Lawang in 1996. There
was only one way to describe the place - the Garden of Eden.
How sad to think of the place gone. My thoughts go out
to the local people, who made the place such a wonderful
destination for nature tourists.
Ifan Morgan, UK
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