Taken from ‘Bungklang Bungkling’, ‘Tsunami’, a column by I Wayan Juniartha, as published in Bali Post, Sunday, 7th February 2010.
Tsunami
The weather has been rather bad recently: strong winds, heavy rain and very cold. Even the television broadcasting has a problem. That’s why the group discuss something easy.
“If it keeps raining like this, I’m sure our village will flood,” says I Made Firasat Buruk (I Made Negative Thinking). He is worried that all his ducks will die due to flood. Doesn’t he know that ducks can swim? It is himself need to worry about as he cannot swim at all.
Ni Luh Makin Digosok Makin Sip (The More You Rub Her the More She Loves It) is very worried about flood too. She knows that her warung is not a permanent structure, its posts are made of bamboo and the roof is just made of woven bamboo. If it floods, the warung will finish straight away.
“I’ve been thinking that being a human is not safe anymore. There are more and more criminals, dirty politicians with their big mouths, and natural disasters everywhere,” says Made.
“Bali is just a small island, so if a big natural disaster hits Bali, where we should evacuate?” replies I Putu Bayu Usak (I Putu Coward).
“If Tsunami hits Kuta and Sanur, where will you go?” one asks.
“You should go to the highest place. The closest high place you can reach is Bedugul. But how can you go there? You will have no chance to run. If you take bemo, it will be too slow. You will have already died by tsunami before you reach Bedugul.”
“We can try telecommunication towers. But the local government has demolished many of them. I think I will go to Nusa Dua because there are many huge hotels there,” comments I Wayan Polo Mbuh (I Wayan Useless Brain).
“We might still be able to deal with tsunami. What if the Mount Agung erupts? You will have no place to run to. It can even worse, if tsunami, mount eruption and earthquake happen at the same time; Bali will totally sink.”
“What rubbish you are talking about, you are too pessimist, all you say are about disasters, you are making people sad,” says Wayan.
The Balinese’ lives have already full of problems, even though there haven’t been any serious disasters. Many of them even die and can not go anywhere.
“Rabies, HIV/AIDS, drugs are ‘real problems’ that have taken many Balinese’s lives. We aren’t even able to deal properly with them.”
Another serious problem that also has taken many Balinese’ lives is ‘poverty’.
“The real example is Made. Made is just a duck shepherd. One day if all of his ducks die due to flood, he will have nothing at all and will be finished. For him, no ducks no money, so how can he survive?”
The conclusion is that in spite of natural disasters, Balinese have had already many problems.
