THE mishap broke out at dawn on Monday, end-September 2005. An insane youth quarreled with his mother and burned their house in Kampung Atas Air in Margasari subdistrict, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. The strong winds from the sea and difficult access for firemen to this densely populated area left 502 homes—all composed of ulin (iron) wood—totally razed.

Thirteen years earlier, the same fire consumed this zone—though not as big as the lat