New data published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) reveals that the overall 2023 air pollution levels in Jakarta were arguably the worst since 2019. Despite improvements between 2020 and 2022, the rise of pollution in 2023 is a notable setback. Over 29 million people …
A NEW understanding of future earthquakes, especially in South Asia, has emerged from studies of the tremor that caused the devastating December 26, 2004 tsunami in the region. The findings of three studies on the Sumatra-Andaman quake have been published in the latest edition of the journal Science (May 20, …
Before paper, palm leaf or Ola was the most popular material used for writing and painting in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. In India, they have been used for more than 2,000 years. Scribes recorded much of India's literary and scientific heritage on these, etching letters carefully into the …
In a softening of stance, Indonesia recently said it is ready to negotiate an out-of-court settlement of the us$133.6 million civil lawsuit against us gold producer Newmont Mining Corp, charged with causing pollution in the Buyat Bay. But the trial of six Newmont executives facing criminal charges in the case …
Differences in the structure of the ocean floor off the coast of Sumatra could explain why the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake created a much larger tsunami than a similar magnitude quake the following year, according to a study.
Concerns have been raised following the Indonesian government's decision to build the country's first nuclear power plant on Java, a densely populated island. The country, faced with increasing energy demands, aims to produce electricity from this facility by 2016. The project was earlier abandoned in 1997 due to strong public …
Time to tell all: The Delhi High Court has issued notices to various departments and functionaries of the Union and Delhi governments on a public interest litigation seeking to ensure that manufacturers of tobacco and alcoholic products disclose the list of ingredients on product packets. Replies to the notices have …
• Ukraine and Turkmenistan are going to propose the establishment of a consortium with Russia and Kazakhstan for transporting gas to Europe. This was announced by Ukraine's deputy prime minister Anatoly Kinakh after Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov and Ukraine's president Viktor Yushchenko held talks during the latter's two-day official visit …
Hundreds of forest fires in the dry jungles of Malaysia, Indonesia's Sumatra island and Singapore have put a thick blanket of smoke over many Southeast Asian cities. Although a little less in intensity than the haze that covered the region nearly a decade ago, this dark cloud has its share …
The objective of this article is to study the implications of changes in land use induced by economic growth, economy-wide policies, and governance on deforestation and forest-induced atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions. Economic growth, democracy, and trade policy explain an important share of the variation in two key determinants of deforestation: …
Agrochemical giant Monsanto is embroiled in a major corruption scandal in Indonesia. The company has admitted to paying bribes to Indonesian officials to evade conducting an environmental impact study, needed as a prerequisite for cultivating genetically modified crops in the country. On January 6, 2005, Monsanto agreed to pay us …
At 6.29 am, on the morning of December 26, 2004 an undersea earthquake erupts in Sumatra, triggering off tidal waves called tsunami. A minute later, the India Meteorological Department (imd) gets the news. In 15 minutes, imd tracks the tsunami to the Indonesian coastline. But they make no attempt to …
The monitoring and management of the Indian coastline has come under sharp focus after the tsunami disaster. There is now a strong demand to implement the Coastal Regulatory Zone (crz) notification of 1991. Let us look at why protecting coastal ecology is so critical. Natural protectors, such as sand dunes …
The Indian ocean covers 73,556,000 sq km, or 20 per cent of the world’s surface. Aspects like oceanography, geophysical phenomena, undersea exploration and economic and military uses have a bearing on ocean behaviour. How cognisant are our experts with this large water body? Other than isolated research programmes associated with …
It would be naive to assume that disasters will stop. We cannot change the nature of disasters. What we can change, certainly control, is the scale that a disaster wreaks. This is precisely what disaster preparedness
Scientists believe that the Sumatra earthquake made the earth wobble on its axis and permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation, shortening a day by a fraction of second and permanently altering the regional map. The devastating undersea earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia has brought about some striking changes in the Indian …
Disasters are not predictable. They follow no standard operating procedures. Disaster preparedness is about managing the unknown, not a science but a social behaviour that’s responsive, predictive and imaginative.• Effective disaster management depends on four factors: • Preparedness: knowing where and when disaster will hit • Mitigation: through measures like …
newmont Mining Corp, the world's biggest gold miner, claimed on December 28, 2004, that a $528.1 million civil lawsuit against its subsidiary pt Newmont Minahasa Raya in Indonesia for causing heavy metal poisoning has been withdrawn. Newmont was charged with dumping carcinogenic waste in Buyat Bay near its Minahasa gold …
Bells jingled, colourful carnivals spread cheer; Asia was filled with festivity, as the people celebrated the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The festival of joy had just begun. But death was just hours away. When the most powerful earthquake in more than 40 years struck deep under the Indian Ocean, the …
Coalfires, both underground and on the surface, are a serious problem in most major coal-producing countries of the Asia-Pacific region including China, India and Indonesia. Australia also experiences similar problems but on a somewhat smaller scale. Coal fires produce large quantities of CO2 along with several other noxious gases such …
The us embassy in Indonesia is facing flak from environmentalists for defending the Denver-based mining company Newmont, which has been charged with dumping carcinogenic waste in Indonesia's waters. Residents of Indonesia's coastal villages, Buyat and Ratatotok, have sued Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, for dumping mine waste containing arsenic …
