Have We not made the earth a carpet, and mountains as pegs? (Al Quran – An Naba', 78: 6-7)
WHEN we cross the Jalan Medan - Banda Aceh in around Lhokseumawe City, Aceh (Indonesia), we will see some hill faces that full of holes. Beautiful views of the green hills are very disturbed by the yellowish soil holes.
Supposedly, on the hill's body the Kota Lhokseumawe Government creates a beautiful city landmark with a unique capital letter; LHOKSEUMAWE, as seen in Hollywood, USA and now many cities in Indonesia mimic such marks. For example, we can see in Losari Beach in Makassar, South Sulawesi or even in Takengon, Aceh Tengah.
However, the LHOKSEUMAWE can be seen on the border of Lhokseumawe City with Kabupaten Aceh Utara, also at Simpang Malaka Strait. At the border, his mark was out of sight behind the rising bushes. At Simpang Malaka Strait, his marker is not glowing anymore. Damaged, but not repaired or repaired even if it is not lit in all parts.
Avalanche danger
Dredging the hills that look so severe in the Lhokseumawe area to be used as a heap of soil. In addition to the hilly area which is far from Jalan Medan - Banda Aceh (around Blang Panyang), in the area of Paloh Pineung also happened massive dredging. From Simpang Buloh area, often cross the yellow dumbtruck that carry the land that is also yellowish.
No wonder, when the rainy season like now, rain water mixed with yellow mud flowing from the hills to Jalan Medan - Banda Aceh. Around 2015, a bus from Lhokseumawe to Banda Aceh, slipped in Blang Panyang upside down. I have been crossing the road on a regular basis since 1993, remembering exactly when it rained there was never a flood of mud carrying yellow mud to the road.
Customize with nature
A journalist who lives in Paloh Pineung revealed, he often heard the rumbling mountains of land that had been dredged the middle of the night. "The sound was so scary, as if it had happened to our house," he said. Surprisingly, why he did not write about this issue or deliver it directly to the mayor of Lhokseumawe. I know exactly he is close to the mayor.
That's what I did approximately 2016 ago when Kompas loaded a hill in an area that has been pocked-pockmarked because the soil is dredged. The photo rose on page one, reinforcing the news of a landslide disaster, but not in Aceh. At that time, I was still using BlackBerry Messanger (BBM) and photographing news and front page photo Kompas then sending it to Mayor of Lhokseumawe, Suaidi Yahya. Reminds that the dredging of the hill in Lhokseumawe is very dangerous for the environment. Unfortunately, there is no response from the message.
Until now, and maybe until the following years, dredging is still going on, until there are victims of landslides that we do not expect. I was so sad when I saw the dredging of the hill for the purpose of building the building was also done at Bukit Indah Campus Malikussaleh University, Lhokseumawe, both outside and inside the campus. On the road to the campus, the building continues to be established by leveling the hill even though in front of it there is a ban on building. The intellectual intelligence of the campus community should make us more friendly to nature and study from various aspects (including religion) before leveling the hill.
I was reminded when in 2012 ago visited the Baverly Hills, elite housing in Los Angeles. The residential area of the artist and the rich Americans is exactly the same geographical condition as the hilly Bukit Indah. However, they do not level the hills. Instead let it remain so and the construction of roads and housing follow the contours of the hills. It seems that the people of Aceh more courageous than peoples of US and more obedient to the will of nature.
In the Qur'an even mentioned the mountains as pegs (big nails) of the earth. Research geophysicist from Washington, United States, Professor Emeritus Frank Press, in his book entitled Earth reveals mountains and hills have pegs that are depths up to a dozen times the surface that sticking out above the earth. It is this mountain peg that pierces the earth like a root that holds it from shock. If the market-peg is then dredged for soil, then the disaster is only a matter of time.
Throughout 2017, the rain is like not knowing the wet season of Lhokseumawe and surrounding areas. When other districts were hit by drought in February and March, Lhokseumawe and Aceh Utara remained in the rain. Even the two Pase areas were hit by floods due to heavy rain last August. In the midst of the increasingly difficult behavior of nature, we are even more unfriendly with it.[]