With the stories on earthquake aid fresh in our memories regarding Indonesia, it must be noted that they are facing several disasters at the moment, and possibly more to come. In case anyone's been wondering why I haven't posted much lately, I have been rather closely watching developments of both the smoldering Mt Merapi, in central Java, and the numerous clusters of H5N1, usually known as "bird flu".
This is really just an update on what is going on on both the islands of Java and Sumatra, where most of the "action" has been centered. Nothing is quite certain at this point, and as with all disease and seismic activity, the stories are still developing.
However, Mt. Merapi, which has had local residents on high alert for months now, has now erupted, possibly with more to come. The extremely volatile volcano is to the Northeast of where the May 28th quake hit, so the area is already facing very unstable living conditions. Adding to this is the fact that many villagers are refusing to leave the area, waiting for a bigger eruption. Many minor eruptions have caused deaths in the last century, in fact in centuries past. Most reports, such as this one cite the more recent disasters. However, a major eruption of Merapi in the 10th century AD wiped out most of the population base and governmental center in Central Java. Now the area is rather highly populated, and people to the south in the Yogyakarta area hit hardest by the quake are still in shelters.
Now add the MORE recent quakes on and offshore of Sumatra, and the disaster just grows. Note that the quakes are right on/near the troubled Banda Aceh region on the northern tip of Sumatra also. The clusters of bird flu have so far in the last month been very lethal, and have ranged from the Jakarta area in northern Java to other areas, popping up to the southwest. The other major clusters have been in North Sumatra, exactly where the recent quakes have hit. I will write more on the flu a bit later, but one Doctor, Henry Niman, keeps updates on his site, www.recombinomics.com, for anyone interested. Also, for more information on bird flu that's a bit more lay-person oriented, I highly recommend The Flu Wiki at http://www.fluwikie.com/ which includes updates, a forum, basic facts and preparedness guides.
Now is it just me, or does it appear that the bulk of Indonesia's main islands are falling apart at the seams?
6 comments:
I'm sure Indonesia's just-released Terrorist Kingpin Bashir would have a ready explanation for all the havoc in my part of the world. It's all happening because the 'nesians aren't Islamic enough...Allah's wrath and all that. Or it's all a massive US-Zionist-Mossad-CIA-Bushitler plot to discredit Islam. Or maybe it's a bit of both...take your pick.
AJ,
I had those same thoughts about the reaction.
Seems to me that the almighty allah is failing islam.
Guess allah aint so almighty after all.
Mischievious afterthought regarding obsessive-compulsive prostrations to the Meccan meteorite:
When Allah wrote the Koran, he assumed the earth was flat. Hence there should be no problems in finding the correct head-banging direction for Mecca.
However, as a direct result of the lamentable loss of Andalusia, certain impudent najis Kaffirs such as Columbus, Magellan and Henry the Navigator humiliated Allah by proving that the earth was round and the sun did not set in a muddy pool in the west.
But worse than this, far worse, is the abhorrent implication that SOMEWHERE on the surface of the earth or ocean, there is ANTI-MECCA. Yes, horror of horrors - somewhere on the surface of this planet there is a locality that is the direct antipodes of Mecca, where there is no preferred direction for head-banging.
In order to placate the meteorite, a Muslim in Anti-Mecca would have to prostrate himself through the full 360 degrees.
If this accursed spot is on land, then possibly the pious believer could perform his prostrations on some sort of fairgound carousel while being spun round at several rpm.
If Anti-Mecca in somewhere in the ocean, then the worshipper would need one of those circular inflatable liferafts and a few playful dolphins to spin it round.
Does anybody have enough navigational/geographical knowledge to work out the precise location of the Meccan Antipodes?
More on Islam and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:
Is Islam a form of 'scrupulosity', an OCD mental illness that emphasises meticulous superficial religious observance while rejecting core spiritual concepts such as compassion?
See http://www.ncpamd.com/scrup.htm
Christian and Jewish clergy are aware of 'scrupulosity' and can liberate sufferers from this OCD to enable them to resume genuine progress along their spiritual paths. I wonder if Imams and Ayatollahs ... nah, forget it.
However, something tells me I must find out more about religious aspects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I must find out more about religious aspects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I must find out more about religious aspects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I must find out more about religious aspects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
I'm going to Google for 'Religious Aspects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder' and hold my breath until ten results turn up. If I have to take a breath in the meantime then I will have to walk round the house three times counter-clockwise while singing 'Little Brown Jug' in Hungarian.
Or I may just bang my head on the ground fifty times five times a day in the direction of Mecca.
More later ... Oh I shouldn't have said that, it's tempting Providence. Now I'll have to cross and uncross my fingers 26 times while reciting the alphabet backwards.
Yeah, oddly when some H5N1 cases turned up in Israel there were actually imams (I forget where, this was winter) who claimed that it was the wrath of allah on the Jews. Right after that, Egypt got hit along with a few large clusters in muslim Nigerian areas, and then the largest cluster to that point hit eastern Turkey and is still cropping up in Iraq and Iran. Actually, I kind of feel sorry for the Kurds at this point. They've gotten hit pretty hard by the good old flu.
On that note though, out of the reports from Turkey came one of the classic quotes of the flu message boards, "Take my wife, but leave my chickens!"
Damn, that was weirdly funny. And translated from a Turkish report by a Turkish flu-blogger as well, not even by us wicked infidels. That poor farmer. Take his healthy wife, but those diseased chickens have got to stay!
Actually, thank you Turks. I now realize how lucky I really am that you guys caused part of my family to refugee to the US. OK, now I'm in a giggle fit....Take my wife, leave my chickens.....
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