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A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water submerges that land. In the other sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide.

While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding.                                                                                             Lately in various regions of frequent flooding, following the influence of flooding:

Primary effects: Physical damage – Can damage any type of structure, including bridges, cars, buildings, sewerage systems, roadways, and canals.

Secondary effects: Water supplies – Contamination of water. Clean drinking water becomes scarce. Diseases – Unhygienic conditions. Spread of water-borne diseases. Transport - Transport links destroyed, so hard to get emergency aid to those who need it.

Tertiary/long-term effects: Economic – Economic hardship, due to: temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase, etc

In various areas, flooding is very difficult to control, but some efforts from society and government can be enough to overcome the flood example in many countries across the world, rivers prone to floods are often carefully managed. Defenses such as levees, bunds, reservoirs, and weirs are used to prevent rivers from bursting their banks. When these defenses fail, emergency measures such as sandbags or portable inflatable tubes are used. Coastal flooding has been addressed in Europe and the Americas with Coastal defenses, such as sea walls, beach nourishment, and barrier islands.

Flooding is also a natural phenomenon that cannot be predicted, the EU Floods directive said a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. Deluge myths are mythical stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution, and are featured in the mythology of many cultures.

References:

 

Wikipedia.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, access on: November 22, 2011

 

panda.org.22/09/2011. Natural disaster flood, available at:http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/natural_disasters/floods, access on: November 22, 2011

 

Library.thinkquest.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/flooding/causesoffloods.shtml , access on: November 22, 2011

 

projectshum.org.22/09/2011. Natural disaster flood, available at:http://www.projectshum.org/NaturalDisasters/flood.html , access on: November 22, 2011

 

Wikipedia.org.22/09/2011. Flood, available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, access on: November 22, 2011

Illegal Logging: Complicated Problem for Indonesia Government

Newsworthy :

Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws.

Indonesia as the country that has many rain forests. In 2003 area forests in Indonesia is about 20 million hectare. Definitely Indonesia has a problem to stop this and they have a problem of the effect.

Illegal logging in Indonesia is uncontrolable, the government can't solve this problem because:

1)            The woodchucks bribe the guard.

2)            The woodchucks drift away the wood into the river.

3)            The government seldom inspect the forests.

Background  events:

All the woodchucks do illegal logging because wood is the seductive business. They sell the wood to another country. The most expensive wood is teak. The teak wood is very expensive because it hard brittle.

The illegal logging in the district of North Aceh is more worried. It is happen in the ​​District of Pirak Timu, Cot Girek, Langkahan ,Sawang and Nisam Reuters.

In District Pirak Timu, the woodchucks are supported by illegal logging rampant logging companies. They are usually backed special groups that have the power or be able to  intervene in local government officials.

Ironically, the loggers and timber transporters that can do it freely. They are suspected to bribe the forests officers or other security forces.

The woodchucks have a special way in order the woods to collector and the police can’t detect because they sweep away the woods on the river. After the woods arrive, the collector will take it then the collectors sell the woods to another country.

Lake Kasen is a timber transit port. From Lake Kasen, the woodchucks drift away the wood to Lanjak. Lanjak is a timber port in the region of Lake Sentarum and Kapuas.
From Lake Kasen, the woods are roped together from 6 woods to 7 woods. 

Then, the woods are dropped down to Leboyan River through Sematik river. The woodchucks rope the woods with drums, so the woods can floats. It takes one day to bring woods to downstream.
After arriving at the Leboyan river, the workers assemble woods into rafts. Each raft is consisted of 30 wooden blocks. There is 1000 blocks of woods, which are sent by a motor to Lanjak Sentarum Lake.

Governments seldom inspect the forest. The governments inspect the forest if only there is a special event on environment. That’s why people can cut the forest freely.

Besides getting fees from harvested timber, people also cut wood around their village. They cut wood in the dry season, between April-September. At that time, most of the dry lake surface. When the rainy season arrives, the people bring the wood that has been felled by a raft, to Rumah Betang.

TNI and the police usually ask for a direct tribute to the logging companies from Malaysia. They have never asked to the people in the village. They also become an mediator for those who want to go to the location of the new harvest. Sources :

We got opinion from Abdul Latif, a resident of Pirak Timu. Abdul Latif said " If the officer once find out the case of illegal cutting , the woodchucks will bribe the police around Rp 20.000 -  Rp 50.000. It depends on the negotiations or the amount of wood that was brought" Thursday (17 / 2).

We also got opinion from environmentlist  named Sodik , “The officers have never come to the location. Their eyes are closed. But in the fact the officers know "

  If the government seriously fight with the woodchuck, they will do like Kapolda West Borneo, Brigjen Pol Nanan Soekarna. After48 Hours he is a police chief in West Borneo, he arrested 6 undocumented timber trucks in Wajor. Nanan said "Combating illegal logging must be a commitment together. The community must also help the police, so that this effort can go on.” This is a fact that the coordination between the government and the society is important. REFERENCES:1.      Abdullah, Amirudin. 2011. Pembalakan Liar di Aceh Utara Makin Merajalela. Available at : http://www.acehforum.or.id/showthread.php/59208-Pembalakan-Liar-di-Aceh-Utara-Makin-Merajalela. Accessed on 17th of November 2011

2.      Ahera, Anne. 2011. Luas Hutan Indonesia. Available at :

http://www.anneahira.com/luas-hutan-indonesia.htm. Accessed on 15th of November 2011

3.      Erwin. 2010. Indonesia Illegal Logging. What’s your opinion about law? Who will responsible? Available at :

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=23489523992&topic=3871. Accessed on 13th of November 2011

4.      Logging, illegal. 2011. Illegal logging. Available at :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logging. Accessed on 24th of October 2011

5.      Suhaeri, Muhlis. 2010. Luruh Hbais Hutan Sentarum. Available at :

http://m.vhrmedia.com/detailmobile.php?.e=778. Accessed on 15th of November 2011

6.      Suhaeri, Muhlis. 2011. Illegal Logging di Kalimantan Barat. Available at :

http://muhlissuhaeri.blogspot.com/2011/01/illegal-logging-di-kalimantan-barat.html. Accessed on 15th of November 2011

Newsworthy :

Since December 2006, in the district of Sidoarjo, the Lapindo mudflow has caused havoc. The disastrous mud volcano was the result of the oil drilling company Lapindo Brantas Inc. This particular mud flow is located in Porong, in the southern district of the Sidoarjo region, 12km south of the town of Sidoarjo.

Based on multiple expert´s opinions, the mudflow was caused by a fracture. This phenomenon has already occurred hundreds of years ago. The amount of mud in Sidoarjo that comes out from under the earth is about 100,000 cubic meters per day, which is not possible out of a “drilling” hole which is as only around 30 cm wide.

            The Lapindo mudflow has become increasingly alarming, an uncontrolled disaster that made a very significant impact, such as polluting the air, contaminating water, flooding villages, criminal growing, mental impacts, etc.

Background Events :

one of the solutions is to dump the polluted mudflow into the sea. Such action is extremely dangerous to the environment around the estuary.

Kriswanto, Juni.demotix.2010.Four Years of The Lapindo Mudflow in Indonesia.available at http://www.demotix.com/news/339347/four-years-lapindo-mudflow-indonesia accessed on 26th October 2011  

Sources :

These are some sources from the scientists who would study the hot mud that has been surging from a hole in the ground for the past five years without any sign of abating.

"We have assembled scientists from several countries who will try to determine what had created the continuing mudflow considered to be the biggest of its kind in the world," Jeffrey said.

He said it had been estimated the phenomenon could last for up to 25 to 30 more years.

Besides that, there are also some scientist that comments about how to stop the mudflow. Such as James Mori and Richard Davies.

“Perhaps, some brilliant people in Indonesia will be able to [stop the flow],” said James, a visiting geology expert from Kyoto University in Japan. He said that he can't be certain when the mud will stop gushing out. Something that would stop it, he said, was hydrostatic equilibrium, which sounds like something that doesn't come along too often. If hydrostatic equilibrium did not occur Mori puts his faith in Indonesian ingenuity:

            “The latest plan to drop chains of concrete balls inside the main geyser to slow down the spewing mud is an interesting experiment. But again it's unlikely to work.” said Richard, a British volcanologist who is a mud volcano specialist and professor at Durham University.

He said any efforts to stop or curb the mudflow would be highly dangerous. He added that the system of mud walls built by the national mudflow response team to control the sludge also posed a threat. Hands off, he advised:

“People should just leave the (mud volcano) alone. The embankment is dangerous. If it collapses, it could create an intense hazard.”
REFERENCES:

Cryer.everthing explained.Sidoarjo Mudflow Explained.available at http://everything.explained.at/Sidoarjo_mud_flow/ accessed on 13th November 2011.

David.indonesiamatters.2007.Sidoarjo Mudflow.available at http://www.indonesiamatters.com/939/sidoarjo-mudflow/ accessed on 29th October 2011

Hitipeuw, Jimmy.kompas.2010.Foreign Scientists in Sidoarjo to Study Lapindo Mudflow.available at http://bola.kompas.com/read/2011/05/26/05344550/Foreign.Scientists.in.Sidoarjo.to.Study.Lapindo.Mudflow accessed on 26th October 2011

Kourounis, George.stormchaser..Sidoarjo Mud Flow Disaster July, 2008 – Indonesia.available at http://www.stormchaser.ca/Environmental_Disasters/Sidoarjo_Mud_Flow/Sidoarjo.html accessed on 13th November 2011. Kriswanto, Juni.demotix.2010.Four Years of The Lapindo Mudflow in Indonesia.available at http://www.demotix.com/news/339347/four-years-lapindo-mudflow-indonesia accessed on 26th October 2011 Mydans, Seth.nytimes.2007.Indonesian Scientists Drop Concrete Balls Into Mud Volcano.available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/world/asia/22iht-mud.4995628.html accessed on 13th November 2001.

Tedjasukmana, Jason. time.2011.Five Years On, Java Still Grapples with Mud Volcano.available at http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2076148,00.html accessed on 13th November 2011.

Tingay, Mark.humanitus..The ‘LuSi’ Mud Eruption of East Java.available at http://www.humanitus.org/pdf/Tingay_PESA_2010_Lusi_Summary.pdf accessed on 13th November 2011.