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    • Situ Gintung; Man Made or Natural Tragedy

    By on April 13, 2009

    A reservoir near Jakarta has recently overly flooded and not just some flood, it raised and overflowed the dam, cracked it widely, putting up all the concrete and soil from the side reservoir, 20 meters tall, tumbling to the surrounding, which unfortunately was overcrowded with human settlements. As seen on the picture, the damage was vast and so far a hundred lives were gone, houses shattered, body parts missing, pets dead, and illness sprouted.

    Let us remember that once this was a scenic view, people go there to enjoy the man-made lake, that was built by the Dutch in the 40s, to have fun with their family and the land surrounding it were easily sold as having good view to the water.

    But, it was not necessarily legal, because even though the local government gave out permission to build houses and buildings, the area it self was not recommended to be a settlement, especially those on the brink of the reservoir.

    As we could logically place into mind, the vast water body also hold potential of misgivings. The structure was old and even though it was built by the Dutch, it has been used to a maximum limit.

    So the question lays: was it the nature being mad at us? Or was it us making wrong doings to nature that created this chaos?

    And us, architects, builders who played as gods putting our labors into buildings, we shared the concequences. We should have warn them! Next time a costumer arrive at your door, don’t forget to ask what the surroundings were, if it is considered a high risk area to live in, suggest them to move out and sell the property. At least that what we could do…

    Vicky Ariyanti

    Mrs. Ariyanti holds Master of Science degree in urban planning from Bauhauss Uni, Weimar, Germany and Master of Engineer from Tongji Uni, Shanghai, China. She works as staff in Serayu-Opak Riverbasin, under Indonesian Ministry of Public Works.

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    Readers Comments

    1. andie on April 13th, 2009 5:28 pm

      that will be happen if we cannot make harmony between people as an individual and nature as an environment :)

      [Reply]

    2. pembunuh on April 15th, 2009 10:24 am

      is it the dam referred to right feng shui bro ?..huehuehuehu

      [Reply]

    3. architect on April 15th, 2009 11:49 am

      pembunuh: the dutch maybe built it without acquiring geomancer’s opinion, hehehe :P

      [Reply]

    4. Prananda Navitas on April 16th, 2009 5:44 am

      Let me see…the damned Dam was old…and to make it worse, its structure was like…only rocks and sand! Compare it to the concrete dams we see in Discovery channel, Situ Gintung is nothing!

      Enough about structure, let’s talk about something else: trash! If you have followed the reports following the aftermath, you’ll see how some canals connected to the dam were blocked by rubbish…if you do your maths, then you’ll probably know where I’m going with my ‘trashy’ comment :D

      In the end…Situ Gintung, in my opinion, is our fault…not as architects, government officials, etc.; But as humans…

      [Reply]

    5. aditia candradewa on April 24th, 2009 8:18 am

      “if it is considered a high risk area to live in, suggest them to move out and sell the property. At least that what we could do…”
      should NOT use it as settlement area..Again. unless you want to risk another lives to bear those catasthropic risks…

      [Reply]





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