On Ardimas Sasdi's "The Need To Learn From Japan"

I would like to make a comment (or two) on Ardimas Sasdi's "The Need To Learn From Japan".

First, let's see paragraph 7.

The number of victims left behind by a natural disaster in Indonesia is almost always high and economic damage is usually extensive. Nearly 132,000 people were killed and 37,000 registered missing after the tsunami hit Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in December 2004; some 6,000 people were killed and 200,000 left homeless by the earthquake in Yogyakarta in May 2006; 600 people were killed in the earthquake-driven tsunami in Pangandaran, West Java, in July 2006; 10,000 people have been displaced by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, and more than 70 people were killed in the earthquake in West Sumatra early this month.

As we could see, Lapindo's mudflow is categorized as "natural disaster", along with Aceh's tsunami, Yogya's earthquake, and Pangandaran's earthquake-driven tsunami. This really is ridiculous, for it's a human-made disaster.

Oh, come on! Stating the mudflow as natural disaster is something that Lapindo has been urging. At first they said it's just an underground-blowout. Then they brought on the mudflow thing, saying there is a huge amount of mud down there, and all they did was just triggering it.

(Trigger my ass, why didn't they say anything about that at the first place -- and I mean before started drilling?)

Natural disaster handling is funded by state. So I'm sure they'll be very happy to read Ardimas's saying the mudflow is natural disaster. It's public opinion that matters, after all.

Second, let's see paragraph 16.

And the government must be thankful with many Indonesians living in disaster-prone areas can already read the signs of nature. The few people injured or killed by the 2004 tsunami on Simeulue Island, which was close to the epicenter of the 9.2 Richter scale quake that triggered the massive wave, was a striking result of local wisdom. The residents of the island took to higher ground as soon as they saw the tide rapidly flow out.

We don't consider running to higher ground as soon as seeing rapidly flowing out tide as an ability to read the signs of nature. We call it saving our life! And the truth is, Simeulue people ran to higher ground right after they saw the sea receded from the coast. And that is what we call "reading the signs of nature".

Because even when you run as soon as you see the rapid flow coming toward you, you know it's too late already.