Mt. Sinabung ash destroys dozens of homes, blankets cities

Thick volcanic ash damaged dozens of houses in a village and began blanketing cities in North Sumatra on Saturday due to continuous eruptions at Mount Sinabung. “Volcanic ash from an eruption that occurred on Friday caused several houses to collapse,” Sinabung Disaster Mitigation Media Center coordinator Jhonson Tarigan said as quoted by Antara news agency on […]

BMKG: Tropical Cyclone to Impact Indonesia

Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Chief, Mulyono Prabowo, said that there was a chance of a tropical cyclone developing in the Nusa Tenggara region for approximately the next two days. “If there was a tropical cyclone, there would be strong winds and torrential rains,” he said at a press conference, Friday, January 10, at […]

Monkeys Invade Farmlands in Gunungkidul

The rain that was coming late this season was assumed to be the cause of the recent monkey invasions into some farmlands in Ponjong district, Gunungkidul regency, Yogyakarta. “The monkeys invaded the farmlands because they ran out of food resources on the hills, many plantations were withered since there was no rain,” said the District Head […]

Hotels offer discounts as Sinabung continues to erupt

A number of hotels in Karo regency, North Sumatra, are offering special packages to foreign and domestic tourists following the slump due to the impact of the Mount Sinabung volcano, which is till emitting clouds of ash and hot dust. The hotel operators are offering discounts of between 30 and 65 percent of their normal rates.

Despite Living in Conservation Area, Elephants Still Threatened

The conservation area in Riau Province, Indonesia is reportedly unable to protect the endangered Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus), as the animals are still threatened by death, even the ones inhabiting the protected area. “Even in the conservation forest, the elephants’ habitation and population are still threatened,” said the spokesman of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for […]

Death of African Lion in KBS Seen Unnatural

Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini believes that the recent death of an African lion named Michael in Surabaya Zoo (KBS) was not an accident. “I agree that the death was unusual,” said Risma to the press yesterday. Risma also believes this incident may be done by certain parties who could not accept the policy that she had […]

Javan Leopards Monitored by Camera Trap

The shrinking habitation has cut off the food supplies for the Javan leopards (Phantera pardus melas) in Mt. Slamet.  As the consequence, the leopards are raiding the people’s settlements more frequently for food. To monitor the movements of Javan leopards in the slope of Mt. Slamet, the Biodiversity Community Society (BCB) has installed camera traps in […]

Whale Hunting in Lamalera

Fishermen from Lamalera Village, Wulandoni, East Nusa Tenggara, managed to take home three whales on Thursday. Mikael Radjamuda Bataona, a local resident, mentioned that fishermen scrambled on a hunt, after the three whales were sighted in Lamalera waters. Whale hunting has been Lamalera’s tradition for generations. Lamalera villagers usually perform a traditional ritual before waging the […]

Worst-case scenario being prepared for Mt. Sinabung

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has instructed all relevant ministries, government institutions, local disaster mitigation agencies and the Karo regency administration in North Sumatra to prepare for a worst-case scenario following an increase in Mount Sinabung’s volcanic activity during the past week. The worst-case scenario would be applied if the evacuation zone reaches between 7.5 […]

Wendit Deforestation Halves Monkey Population

The Public Alliance for Wendit Forest, along with local residents and members of Walhi East Java, waged a protest against Public Company Perhutani, for cutting down trees at Wendit tourism park, Malang. They claimed the activity has caused the population of long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) to drop from 300 to 150, according to the protest coordinator, Teguh Prijatmono.Teguh added that the […]