Pondok Labu flood caused by narrowing of river: Official

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/31/2011 1:35 PM

Floods that inundated the Pondok Labu area in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Sunday, were likely caused by the narrowing of the nearby Krukut River, a local official says.

“There was a high intensity of rains in areas upstream, namely Depok and Bogor [West Java]. But the floods were also trigged by the narrowing [of the Krukut River], which was once 6 meters wide but has become only 2 meters wide,” Cilandak district head Sayid Ali said Monday in Jakarta.

He added the narrowing was a result of the expansion of a nearby shooting ground used by the Indonesian Navy.

“You can see it for yourself,” Sayyid said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

A total of 239 families were evacuated from Pondok Labu on Sunday when floodwaters up to 2 meters deep inundated their homes.

On Monday morning, however, the waters receded to half a meter, prompting the evacuees to return to the area to commence the cleanup.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo visited Pondok Labu during the floods and ordered that the river be dredged and land acquired in the area to support the construction of a dam that is planned to be built there next year.

Caterpillar plague in Probolinggo all clear: Official

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 04/11/2011 1:03 PM | Archipelago

Probolinggo Agriculture Agency in East Java says the regency is rid of the millions of caterpillars that plagued the area for several weeks.

“There are no more of the caterpillars in Probolinggo regency,” an official at the agency, Arif Kurnadi, said Monday as reported by tempointeraktif.com.

The plague has swept through 58 villages in nine districts in Probolinggo, with the pests not only affecting mango trees, but also houses and schools.

He added that he was sure the plague had ended because the agency had not received any reports of caterpillar attacks for the last three days.

Arif further added that 540 liters of pesticide had been used in 58 villages in nine Probolinggo districts. Around 15, 000 mango trees, around 1 percent of the total number of mango trees in the area, were attacked by the infestation.

“The percentage [of trees infested] remains very low. However, this still constitutes the biggest attack [we’ve had lately],” he added.

Borobudur’s post-Merapi eruption rehabilitating may take three years: Official

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 02/17/2011 10:02 PM | Archipelago

It may take as much as three years to rehabilitate the Borobudur Temple after last year’s eruption of nearby Mount Merapi covered the temple with volcanic ashes and affected the surrounding environment in general, an official said.

“The rehabilitation process includes the revitalization of the environment and the social economic [condition] of local residents,” the Tourism Ministry's director of history, Yunus Satrio Atmojo, said Thursday as quoted by Antara.

He added that ridding the temple’s stones of volcanic sediment would take at least six months.

The next phase would involve planting trees to prevent temperature increase, which can impact on the temple’s stone forms.

Yunus said that activities of local residents had also been affected by the eruption.

“Such a rehabilitation process needs around two to three years for the condition of the temple to return to how it was before the disaster, as long as there are no further Merapi eruptions as intense as the previous ones,” he said.

The Jakarta representative of UNESCO, Hubert Gijzen, said that the organization had donated US$ 3 million to the restructuring process.

50,000 Balinese suffering from cataracts: Health official

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 01/21/2011 2:57 PM | Archipelago

About 50,000 people in Bali are suffering from cataracts and the number is expected to increase by 0.1 percent annually, a physician says.

Many people suffer from the disease not only because of old age, but also because of poor nutrition, unfavorable weather, diabetes and excessive exposure to sunlight, Indera Hospital chief Dr. Pande Sri Joni said Friday in Denpasar after receiving Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty.

Moriarty visited the hospital in relation to health donations from the Australian government amounting to Aus$3 million, Antara reported Friday.

Joni said cataract patients could get their sight back through operations, adding that despite efforts by the government to prevent the illness, the number of cataract patients continued to increase.

“Every day [we] perform 10 operations. Each year we treat 1,000 patients and the number will increase to 2,000,” he said.

The hospital has five ophthalmologists who perform the eye surgery and also a mobile unit that can travel to villages throughout Bali upon requests from regional administrations.

50,000 Balinese suffering from cataracts: Health official

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 01/21/2011 2:57 PM | Archipelago

About 50,000 people in Bali are suffering from cataracts and the number is expected to increase by 0.1 percent annually, a physician says.

Many people suffer from the disease not only because of old age, but also because of poor nutrition, unfavorable weather, diabetes and excessive exposure to sunlight, Indera Hospital chief Dr. Pande Sri Joni said Friday in Denpasar after receiving Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty.

Moriarty visited the hospital in relation to health donations from the Australian government amounting to Aus$3 million, Antara reported Friday.

Joni said cataract patients could get their sight back through operations, adding that despite efforts by the government to prevent the illness, the number of cataract patients continued to increase.

“Every day [we] perform 10 operations. Each year we treat 1,000 patients and the number will increase to 2,000,” he said.

The hospital has five ophthalmologists who perform the eye surgery and also a mobile unit that can travel to villages throughout Bali upon requests from regional administrations.