Bulaksumur - Dozens of IDPs who had stayed in the UGM campus, Thursday (25/11), were relocated to the shelters at Maguwoharjo Stadium and the Youth Center. UGM Director of Student Affairs, Drs. Haryanto, M.Si., and volunteers of Gelanggang Emergency Response (GER) witnessed the relocation process. "They were relocated to Maguwoharjo and the Youth Center," said Dadang, one of the GER volunteers who had taken care of the needs of their IDPs during their stay at UGM.
14 IDP families who were relocated came from Kaliurang, Pakem, and Cangkringan. As many as 8 families were relocated to Maguwoharjo while the rest to the Youth Center. "The bus that will carry them departs first to Maguwo then to the Youth Center," said Agung, one of the drivers. The relocation was carried out at around 09.00, however, the IDPs had already packed their belongings and got ready two hours in advance.
"Nature is useful for life, health, and many other things. Therefore, let us keep and maintain the environment, at least this can be started from planting trees from now on," said Sjambjah in Javanese language that was translated into Indonesian by the Rector of UGM.
After planting several species of trees in the Wisdom park, the opening of WISDOM continued with the release of hundreds of white pigeons by the UGM Rector, representatives of universities and private institutions and government. At the end of the event, invited guests were entertained with the Dayakan Borobudur dance.
As reported earlier, later in this conference, participants will also visit several villages under the Merapi Post-Eruption Social Program: Pangukrejo, Gondang, Petung and Pagerjurang. This program aims to provide opportunities for participants to understand the Spirit of Merapi, which became the roots of local knowledge that have already existed in communities around Merapi for centuries. The visit is to show the participants on how local knowledge serves as a natural resource to maintain the mountain and the surrounding population.