Date:  Wed, 1 April 2009  11:15 WesternIndonesiaTime

Subject:  Broken Dam Of Situ Gintung

This is a view of a burst dam in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, March 27, 2009. The dam burst before dawn Friday, sending a flash flood into a crowded residential neighborhood, submerging hundreds of houses and killing at least 50 people, officials said.

(AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Fri Mar 27, 2:26 AM ET

tv_one  

Indonesian president SBY has to switch from the presidential car to riding on the back of a motorcycle to get through the traffic jam on his way to the disaster area of Lake Situ Gintung on Friday afternoon of 27 March 2009.

foto.detik.com/pool

Indonesian soldiers search for victims at a neighborhood swept by flash flood after a dam burst in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, March 27, 2009. Torrential rain caused an old dam to burst its banks early Friday, sending a wall of muddy water crashing into a suburb of the Indonesian capital. The flood killed at least 50 people, left scores missing and submerged hundreds of homes.

(AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)

Fri Mar 27, 6:58 AM ET

A view of the damage after a flood on the outskirts of Jakarta March 27, 2009. A dam on the outskirt of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, burst early on Friday morning, killing 50 people and flooding hundreds of houses nearby, official said.

REUTERS/Dadang Tri

(INDONESIA DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)

Fri Mar 27, 4:15 AM ET

Rescuers search for flood victims on the outskirts of Jakarta March 27, 2009. A dam on the outskirt of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, burst early on Friday morning, killing 50 people and flooding hundreds of houses nearby, official said. REUTERS/Dadang Tri

(INDONESIA DISASTER ENVIRONMENT) Fri Mar 27, 4:19 AM ET

Bodies wait to be claimed by relatives at a make-shift morgue at the University of Muhammadiyah after a dam wall burst in Tangerang, near Jakarta

(AFP/Adek Berry)

Fri Mar 27, 3:13 AM ET

Residents look at their vehicle which was swept by flood waters in Ciputat, on the outskirts of Jakarta, March 27, 2009. A dam on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, burst early on Friday, killing 50 people and flooding hundreds of houses nearby, officials said.

REUTERS/Beawiharta (INDONESIA ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)

Fri Mar 27, 3:42 AM ET

kompas / Dhoni Setiawan

foto.detik.com / Andi Saputra  

foto.detik.com / Andi Saputra

foto.detik.com / Andi Saputra  

Lake Situ Gintung located in Tangerang District, borders on South Jakarta, was a dam developed by the Dutch in the thirties for irrigation water of agricultural field in the lower ground there. Along with the movement of time, the agricultural field turned into housing area, while the dam remained.

In the morning of 27 March 2009, around half past four when as usual the sky above Jakarta was still dark, after heavy rain with ice falling since the afternoon on the previous day for around three hours, the dam no longer able to hold the water, it burst and release the water inside.

High speed current of water flowed through hundred of houses, most of it with people still asleep inside, becoming like a lake kind of Tsunami.

Up to the moment I wrote this, 99 people found death among the debris. Not to mention the damaged houses, inside real estate complexes and outside, some of them vanished with the strong flow of water.

Members of a rescue team carry the body of a victim found at the site of a flooded housing complex on the outskirts of Jakarta March 27, 2009. A dam on the outskirt of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, burst early on Friday morning, killing 50 people and flooding hundreds of houses nearby, official said.

REUTERS/Beawiharta

(INDONESIA ENVIRONMENT DISASTER IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

Fri Mar 27, 2:19 AM ET

Date:  Wed, 1 April 2009  11:25 WesternIndonesiaTime

Subject:  Two Public Figures Died Preceding The Dam Burst

Parliament member Sutradara Ginting in a press conference. he died on 2 March 2009 from a heart attack.

inilah.com

Casket of parliament member Sutradara Ginting in the house of representative building waiting for funeral service.

foto.detik.com / Laurencius Simanjuntak

Comedian Timbul Srimulat died on 26 March 2009 after spending two months in the hospital.

inilah.com

foto.detik.com

Rachman Haryanto

The grave of Timbul after the funeral on 27 March 2009, the same day of Lake Situ Gintung burst.

foto.detik.com 

Rachman Haryanto

Preceding the catastrophic of broken dam of Situ Gintung, two public figures with the name that seem related with the broken dam died.

On 22 March 2009, a member of parliament Sutradara Ginting died of a heart attack at the age of 57. He was known as a good politician, handling the matters of defense, information, and foreign affairs in the parliament.

His first name Sutradara has the meaning of film director or play director. While his last name Ginting sounds a little bit similar with Situ Gintung.

On 26 March 2009, a senior comedian Timbul Suhardi or also known as Timbul Srimulat died at the age of 67 after spending two months in the hospital. His first name Timbul is like Indonesian word “timbul” which means “emerge” or “surface”, the word that usually connected with people appearing in the water surface of sea or lake or river.

Date:  Wed, 1 April 2009  11:55 WesternIndonesiaTime

Subject:  Shape Of A Flying Soul

A view of Lake Situ Gintung from satellite photo by Google above makes it looks like a shape of a person. The two legs, the body, the shoulder.....and the neck is right in the small bridge of the lake which has a flood gate underneath.

While the head is invisible, not shown.

It reminds me with my near-death experience in 1979, where I felt like my soul was being pulled out from my head, as if something inside me was flowing, leaving my foot, my legs, and I tried to hold it until it stopped.

The flow of water of Lake Situ Gintung was like reflecting that experience of mine, because the water was flowing to the direction of the invisible head of the lake.

As if to remind me that my consent to move out of this world should not have to endangering others like what happened with the dam burst of Situ Gintung. 

An aerial view of the "neck" of lake Situ Gintung after the small bridge with a floodgate underneath have gone along with the water flow.

Kompas / Lasti Kurnia