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Small island in Bengkulu 'will be gone in 15 years'
A small island off Bengkulu in the Indian Ocean - Tikus Island - is predicted to vanish within 15 years due to the fast rate of abrasion
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small island off Bengkulu in the Indian Ocean - Tikus Island - is predicted to vanish within 15 years due to the fast rate of abrasion.
'We predict [the island] will be gone in 15 years due to abrasion,' lighthouse officer on the island, Kusnadi, said on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.
The abrasion on its western coast has reduced the area of the island from 2 hectares to 0.8 hectares, Kusnadi said.
The island, located around 5 miles from the city of Bengkulu, is uninhabited.
The abrasion has damaged a number of facilities built by the Communications and Information Ministry on the island, he said.
Scores of buildings have collapsed, even the lighthouse has been moved inward three times to protect it from the force of the huge waves, he said.
The chairman of a team focusing on the reduction of green house gases in Bengkulu, Gunggung Senoaji, shared Kusnadi's remarks, saying the island would be wiped off the map if no attempts to prevent it were made.
Gunggung said the rapid abrasion rate of Tikus Island and others across Indonesia was the result of global warming that led to an increase in sea levels.
"A dam and breakwater could help reduce the rate of abrasion, but it would depend on the global climate. If the water levels continue rising they will be useless," he said. (atw)
