THE fence extends to the edge of the waters of Situ Gintung, cutting across the dam and the path. To get past it, Erian Alfino and two of his schoolmates have to go across the edge of the 30-meter fence.

Today the lake is dry, following the dam’s collapse two weeks ago. The edge of the lake around the fence looks almost straight. It is more than 5 meters deep. Towards the middle, it has a depth of more than 10 meters.

When the lake was still