Earthquake Relief

Para pemuda GKJ WATES yg menjadi relawan bergotong-royong membantu mengumpulkan reruntuhan rumah yg menjadi korban gempa bumi. Kayanya saat-saat ini,disamping kebutuhan logistik,mereka lebih membutuhkan bantuan berupa bahan-bahan bangunan untuk membangun kembali rumah mereka. Tapi ada ngga ya yg mau membantu soal ini? Gw dengar sih,katanya Pemerintah akan mengganti rugi untuk korban yg rumahnya rubuh akibat gempa. Masalahnya,berapa lama bantuan itu akan cepat sampai ke tangan mereka? Klo untuk mendapatkan bantuan logistik aja mereka harus dilengkapi dengan syarat² tertentu. Yaa…Semoga Pemerintah lebih konsen lagi soal yg satu ini supaya rekonstruksi Jogja akan cepat selesai. Sedih juga klo harus lihat mereka berlama-lama tinggal di tenda-tenda darurat.

Location: Sandelan, Jabung, Gantiwarno, Klaten.

The Javanase Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Jawa = GKJ) youths who became volunteer relief workers are working together in helping to gather ruins of houses that belonged to the earthquake victims. It looks like at this moment, aside from the need of logistics, they need aid more in the form of building materials to rebuild their houses. But will anybody be willing to help them with this matter? From what I’ve heard, they said that the Government will give compensation to victims whose house have collapsed due to the earthquake. The problem is, how long will it take until the aid will finally received by them, if only to receive logistic aid they have to submit their request with completely fulfilled requirements? Well… hopefully the Government will concentrate more to this matter so Jogja’s reconstruction can be finished promptly. It’s sad to see them live in emergency tents for that long.

No Comments »

Ruins. Location: Pundong, Bantul Selatan.

Kenapa banyak sekali rumah tembok yang runtuh ya? Dan kenapa hampir seluruh rumah gedek (dan papan) berdiri tegak? Pertanyaan gue ini jadi bahan pembahasan seru di antara Marlo dan Frenky pagi ini. Ternyata pertanyaan sederhana ini pembahasannya nggak sederhana. Apalagi buat gue yang nggak ngerti masalah teknik membuat bangunan. Selama mereka berdua ngebahas itu, gue manggut-manggut aja mendengar teori-teori mereka. Kalau pun gue ditipu, hehehe, mending gue nggak perlu tahu, deh.

Yang jelas dari pembahasan mereka, gue baru tahu bahwa kebanyakan orang di kampung-kampung di Jogja (mungkin juga di seluruh Jawa, ya?) nggak menyangga susunan bata dengan besi apapun sebagai tulang. Jadi, biasanya rumah tembok itu dibangun dengan cara menyusun bata dengan semen sesuai bentuk yang mereka mau, baru kemudian diberi atap.

Gue jadi inget pelajaran sejarah SD. Gosip-gosipnya kan, candi Borobudur itu dibangun dari batu kali yang dipahat dan disusun-susun dengan pemantap putih telur. Wuih! (Hehehe…gue sih, percaya soal penyusunan batu kali itu pakai sistem penguncian. Yang nggak gue percaya bagian soal putih telurnya. Kasihan bagian kan ayam-ayam itu….).
Bisa jadi pengetahuan lokal ini diwariskan secara turun-temurun. Yang berubah cuma jenis bahan dan cara penumpukannya. Dulunya batu kali, sekarang bata. Dulunya putih telur, sekarang semen.

Cuma, menurut gue, mungkin aja itu bukan karena mereka punya pengetahuan lokal. Siapa tahu alasannya hanya karena harga besi bertulang itu mahal banget. Padahal mereka kan ingin punya rumah tembok yang kelihatan lebih bagus, lebih mapan, lebih mantap, lebih kelihatan permanen, dan lebih menaikkan status sosial. Jadi, hajar bleh.

Demi hal-hal itulah, mereka bisa jadi dengan gampang menyingkirkan prinsip-prinsip teknis membangun rumah. Demi hal-hal itulah, mereka meninggalkan tradisi membangun rumah pakai gedek (dan papan) yang kayaknya sekarang terbukti bisa bertahan dari gempa. Hehehe…semangat banget gue dengan teori gue ini, ya? Semangat orang yang sama sekali nggak punya bukti ilmiah dan nggak ngerti cara bangun rumah.

Mungkin seru juga ya, kalo hal-hal kayak gini dibahas beneran dan dipublikasikan ke mana-mana. Siapa tahu negara kita yang sebenarnya rawan gempa ini harusnya bikin rumah yang ramah gempa dengan cara-cara murah meriah.

Masalahnya sekarang, siapa yang mau rumahnya balik lagi berdinding gedek, sementara di TV bisa ngeliat Ari Wibowo tinggal di rumah tembok berdinding mulus berwarna jambon? Gue mau nggak ya?

Bricks? Or Gedek?

I wonder why there were so many brick and drywalled houses that fell apart? And why is it that almost all homes made of gedek (a kind of woven bamboo material used for walls) were left standing? This question of mine became an interesting discussion topic for Marlo and Frenky this morning. It turns out that this simple question didn’t have a simple explanation. Especially for me, not understanding the technical aspects of construction. As they both dwelled on this topic, I nodded mindlessly as I listened to their theories. Even if I were being lied to, hehehe, I would rather not know.

Evidently from their discussion, I found out that most people in the Yogya villages (and maybe throughout Java?) do not support the brickwork with any kind of framing. Therefore, most brick homes are made just by layering the bricks with cement according to the desired form, and then topped with a roof.

This reminds me of my History class in elementary school. The lore was that the Borobudur temple was built with carved river rocks that were layered and sealed with egg whites. Wuih! (Heheh.. I personally believed the part about the river rocks layered with an interlocking pattern. I didn’t believe the egg white part of the story. Those poor chicken!). It may well have been that this local knowledge was passed down through generations. The only change is in the material and the layering system. Before it was rocks, not it’s bricks. Before it was egg whites, now it’s cement.

But in my opinion, it probably wasn’t because of the local lore. Who knows, maybe the reason behind this type of construction is simply because the cost of steel framing is extremely expensive. Meanwhile people wanted to have brick homes that look better, stronger, more settled, more permanent, and elevated their social status. So, they built it anyway.

For those reasons, they readily neglected the basic technical principles of home construction. And for those reasons, they abandoned the tradition of building homes with gedek (and plywood), which has now evidently proven itself to be earthquake-proof. Heheh… I’m so excited about my theory, aren’t I? Well this enthusiasm comes from someone who doesn’t have a shred of scientific proof, and doesn’t understand a thing about home building.

It might be interesting, if things like these were actually discussed and published. Who knows, perhaps our country, which in reality is prone to earthquakes, should build cheap homes that can withstand quakes.

The problem now is, who would want to go back to having gedek walls, while we can watch Ari Wibowo on TV living within the smooth pink walls of his brick home? Would I want to?

No Comments »