BALI’S MOUNT AGUNG NEARING ERUPTION
GOVERNMENT HAS RAISED THE CAUTION TO
LEVEL 3 OUT OF 4
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Kerry B. Collison Asia News: Volcanic activity of Mount Agung in Bali increasin...
Kerry B. Collison Asia News: Volcanic activity of Mount Agung in Bali increasin...: Bali - Volcanic tremor activity of Mount Agung in the district of Karangasem, Bali, has been on the increase since early this month...
Volcanic activity of Mount Agung in Bali increasing
Bali -
Volcanic tremor activity of Mount Agung in the district of Karangasem, Bali,
has been on the increase since early this month.
"Actually volcanic tremors have already happened since in the middle of August, 2017 but they then vanished before emerging again and since early in September it has continued to increase," head of volcanic mitigation of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Gede Suantika, said here on Sunday.
He explained on Friday (Sept 15) tremor activities of the mountain reached 27 times and increased to 73 on Saturday.
From 00.00 to 12.00 hours on Sunday the number of volcanic tremors was recorded reaching 50 times.
The mountain is still under alert status and people are appealed to not conduct activities within a radius of three kilometers, he said.
He said his office would keep monitoring the a tivity and studying data available to update information to the public.
He sad he had also informed Karangasem district head I Gusti Ayu Mas Sumantri and other officials concerned to inform the public to remain calm and alert with regard to the mountain's activity.
Head of the regional disaster mitigation office, Dewa Indra, has also called on the people not to be worried and follow givernment instruction. "They must follow information from official sources so that they will not be misled," he said.
He said if the mountain's activity continued to rise the public will be informed and so they would have time to pack up and evacuate.
"Actually volcanic tremors have already happened since in the middle of August, 2017 but they then vanished before emerging again and since early in September it has continued to increase," head of volcanic mitigation of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Gede Suantika, said here on Sunday.
He explained on Friday (Sept 15) tremor activities of the mountain reached 27 times and increased to 73 on Saturday.
From 00.00 to 12.00 hours on Sunday the number of volcanic tremors was recorded reaching 50 times.
The mountain is still under alert status and people are appealed to not conduct activities within a radius of three kilometers, he said.
He said his office would keep monitoring the a tivity and studying data available to update information to the public.
He sad he had also informed Karangasem district head I Gusti Ayu Mas Sumantri and other officials concerned to inform the public to remain calm and alert with regard to the mountain's activity.
Head of the regional disaster mitigation office, Dewa Indra, has also called on the people not to be worried and follow givernment instruction. "They must follow information from official sources so that they will not be misled," he said.
He said if the mountain's activity continued to rise the public will be informed and so they would have time to pack up and evacuate.
Record since 1800 said that Mount Agung had have mega eruptions four times,
the latest that killed more than 8,000 was only recently in 1963.
Kerry B. Collison Asia News: New Release Title based on the Fight for West Papu...
Kerry B. Collison Asia News: New Release Title based on the Fight for West Papu...: New Release Title based on the Fight for West Papuan Independence (now available on Kindle and POD Amazon) “Rockefeller and the ...
New Release Title based on the Fight for West Papuan Independence (now available on Kindle and POD Amazon)
New Release Title based on the Fight for West Papuan Independence (now
available on Kindle and POD Amazon)
“Rockefeller and the Demise of Ibu Pertiwi”
Author: Kerry B. Collison
ISBN-10:1-921030-98-4
ISBN-13:978-1-921030-98-7
RRP $24.95
Sid Harta Publishers Melbourne Australia
In 1961 and one month following the disappearance of Michael C.
Rockefeller off the southern coast of what was then known as Dutch Western New
Guinea, Indonesia invaded, annexed and commenced the systematic slaughter of
indigenous Papuans, to pave the way for a massive wave of transmigrated
Javanese.
With the meteoric rise of the new powerhouses China and India,
Indonesian-occupied West Papua’s wealth of oil, gas and minerals precipitates
an international power-play for control over the vast, untapped natural
resources.
Decades have passed since the twenty-three-year-old Rockefeller
disappeared – long presumed dead, when sightings of the heir are widely
reported.
Demands for West Papuan independence gains momentum and Australia is
again drawn into military conflict with the Indonesian Motherland, “Ibu Pertiwi”.
In Europe,
there is growing support for the international community to revisit the flawed
1969 West New Guinea plebiscite. Some member
nations of the European Community, including The Netherlands
And, more
recently, driven by anti-Australian sentiment the groundswell has become
evident amongst Western Pacific island states which, in concert with their
African counterparts such as Zimbabwe, have become increasingly vociferous in
their calls for such a U.N. resolution. And, surprisingly, the lead has now
been taken up by Ireland.
However, the
situation is more than problematic for Australians.
Should the
United Nations support a call for a new plebiscite to be held in West Papua,
such action would undoubtedly become the genesis of any future confrontation
between Australia and Indonesia – fertile ground, indeed, for the growing
number of militant religious groups (both Christian and Moslem) that fester
throughout the great archipelago that is Indonesia, referred to lovingly as
“Ibu Pertiwi”.
What role will the
Melanesian Spearhead Group play in this?
Book now available
worldwide:
eBook:
Amazon AU – https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B075J8H47W (plus all eleven other Amazon international sites)
Apple iTunes AU – https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/rockefeller-the-demise-of-ibu-pertiwi/id1281393801
(plus all 50 other Apple iTunes stores)
POD:
Kerry B. Collison Asia News: Indonesia Can’t Get its Tourism Act Together
Kerry B. Collison Asia News: Indonesia Can’t Get its Tourism Act Together: They call it ‘Wonderful Indonesia!’ Or Maybe Not Millions of television viewers in multiple countries often ...
Indonesia Can’t Get its Tourism Act Together
They call it ‘Wonderful Indonesia!’ Or
Maybe Not
Millions
of television viewers in multiple countries often see advertisements encouraging
them to come to “Wonderful Indonesia.” The nation does indeed have an amazing
number of actual or potential tourist attractions – historic sites, natural
wonders, beautiful beaches, interesting buildings, wildlife, arts and local
customs. It also now has okay hotels, a web of air links and some comfortable
if slow trains, at least in Java.
Yet what
seems singularly lacking to this recent visitor is much sense of pride in its
history which could be communicated to tourists who want to do more than lie on
beaches, climb volcanoes or simply enjoy the scenery.
The
1,200-year-old temples of Borobudur (Buddhist) and Prambanan (Hindu) close to
Yogyakarta are World Heritage sites that clearly qualify as wonderful. Yet
visiting them again for the first time in more than a decade this tourist was
struck by the total lack on information available to explain the stories and
the symbolism of the successive tiers of stone carvings which comprise this
remarkable building. No guidebooks even in Bahasa, let alone English, Chinese,
Japanese, etc.
Visitors
interested in more than taking photos of the temple and themselves need to
either have acquired a guide book before they arrive – which is difficult – or
pay for the services of a local guide who can explain some of the basics and
point out a few of the most noteworthy features. Ones speaking various
languages are available but this is not cheap, the guides’ knowledge appears
limited and does not provide visitors with a record of the building which they
can keep as mementoes and study at their leisure. Nor is there much sense that
this is a religious monument which requires as much respect as a mosque or
church. Much the same situation prevails at Prambanan.
At
Borobudur, exhibits in the nearby museum are poorly displayed. Lack of
information also means few visit the nearby museum housing the Samudraraksa,
the replica of a ship illustrated by Borobudur reliefs which in 2003 was sailed
from Jakarta to the Seychelles, Madagascar, Cape Town and Accra (Ghana). Built
with traditional tools and materials, the ship provides the most tangible
reminder of the sailing feats of the Indonesians who settled Madagascar and
traded to Africa and Arabia in the first millennium, and later.
A book
about the expedition exists published by the Lontar Foundation– this writer has
one from a previous visit – but is no longer available at the museum. Yet at a
time when President Joko Widodo is focusing attention on the contemporary
importance of maritime issues, Indonesia should be making as much fuss about
its achievements as China does with Zheng He’s voyages nearly a thousand years
later.
Perhaps
modern Indonesia has become so concerned with being Islamic that it forgets
that its most celebrated achievements predate the arrival of Islam. Not that
there is much sense of pride in Java’s first mosques. Built in the north Java
towns, Demak, Kudus and Jepara, then trading cities, the mixture of local
Hindu, Chinese and Persian influences in their (very different) designs provide
a fascinating insight into how Islam arrived with trade. Yet do not expect to
find much information on site, let alone in multiple languages.
That is
again the case for tourists who, starting from Yogya or Semarang, take the slow
but stunningly beautiful winding road through precariously terraced hillsides
to the mist-enshrouded 7th century Hindu temples, bubbling volcanic
rocks and sulphurous lakes 2,000 meters up on Central Java’s Dieng Plateau.
This “abode of the gods,” once home to dozens of temples of which a few are
left, was the spiritual center of the Sanjaya dynasty. Understandably,
foreigners have to pay more than locals to visit. But unless a visitor arrives
with a guidebook, there is nothing to explain the history and significance of
the site.
Jakarta
with its traffic, pollution and shortage of historic buildings cannot be high
up on any tourist’s itinerary. Yet, given its collections at the National
Museum, situated on the west side of Merdeka square opposite the National
Monument, should be a place for showing Indonesia’s history and culture. But
the exhibits are bizarrely organized and poorly presented. Some important
artefacts lack any description or one only in Bahasa. Part of the museum
housing large statuary is currently closed for renovation so maybe eventually
the whole museum will emerge rejuvenated. But there is a long way to go – and
also a need for the kind of guidebook, in several languages, which is the norm
at most significant museums.
All told,
this visitor’s experience of a few days sightseeing was that if the responsible
authorities in Indonesia had a greater sense of national pride, the tourist
would come away with a much better impression. The apparent official
disinterest in showing off the history and achievements of its peoples
contrasts with the efforts of a private group, the Lontar Foundation, to
preserve legacies such as illuminated Javanese manuscripts, and the Bugis
chronicle, La Galigo, and promote modern Indonesian culture and writing, including
having success in bringing its authors to international attention.
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