Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Unpredictable weather has seen some Bandung residents no longer look at their city's ancient trees with fondness and appreciation -- but as threat to their life.
The reason was A recent accident that killed tax office employee Yusli Rasyidin.
He was hit by an aging tree as it crashed to the ground during storms late August -- and this horrid accident is still fresh in many resident's minds.
So the people of Bandung have pushed for city administration to cut down some of the old trees, especially those in an obviously fragile condition.
Purnama, a West Dago resident, said he was worried he too might one day see the same terrible fate as Yusli.
"It will be more dangerous when the rain comes," Purnama said.
"More trees might fall down."
Most of the city's older trees can still be found along streets in north Bandung, mainly in Jalan Sumatra, Cihampeulas, Dago, Imam Bonjol and Ganesha.
The accident which killed Yusli took place on a clear and sunny day, when there was no rain or any sign of a storm.
Head of Bandung city Park Office, Yogi Supardjo, said the tree had fallen because its roots had become too old to stabilize it -- but that they had not been able to detect the tree's state in time.
He said the tree's roots could also have been damaged by members of the public dumping chemical and household waste, including vinegar-filled food leftovers.
"We're still investigating the accident now," Yogi said.
But he said he would not make any rash moves to cut down all the city's old trees.
In fact, he said Bandung needed some 600,000 more trees to provide a stable oxygen supply for the city's residents -- as well as to provide a cooler atmosphere and shade.
Data from the Environment Monitoring Agency in West Java, said Bandung's temperature had increased by 3 degrees Celsius.
The city's temperature once reached 30 degrees Celsius at most but was now climbing to sometimes 33 degrees, the data said.
Environment expert Mubyar Purwasasmita from non-governmental organization Observers Council of Sunda Plateau Environment and Forest said Bandung should have around 1.2 million trees to supply oxygen for its some 2.5 million residents.
"If people start to talk about cutting down old trees, tell them to wait a minute," Mubyar said.
"We need oxygen to live too and the main problem lies with poor supervision and maintenance by officials."
Yogi said there were less than 100 old trees found across several locations in northern Bandung.
He said his office had tried to prevent old trees from falling by cutting off fragile or too-heavy branches.
And the city has today imposed strict and multi-layered regulations to protect their old trees.
Laws around the environment and the city's 2005 local ordinance regulations would see fines of between Rp 5 million and Rp 100 million imposed on anyone found purposely damaging the city's trees.
Yogi blamed inadequate experience and a lack of technology to help his office learn more about the real condition of the city's oldest trees -- but he said they would do their best to preserve them.
In addition, he said there were plans to insure the city's older trees that could become a threat to pedestrians and motorists.
Jakarta administration has insured 4.6 million trees across the city and would pay insurance fees of Rp 150 million annually.
"We just want to take precautions.
"If there is an accident like the one that happened to Yusli, it will not be a problem for us to provide compensation," Yogi said.
No comments:
Post a Comment