Indonesia

We always knew that Indonesia was prone to natural disasters, but recently it has been particularly bad. As you probably heard, earlier this week, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, and then a few hours later, Mount Merapi, the huge volcano in Central Java erupted.

Of course having lived in Indonesia, we were shocked by the news. We experienced a couple earthquakes and floods in Jakarta, but to have events this big so close together really stretches Indonesia's limited resources to respond. I'm confident that the U.S. government and charitable organizations will help with the recovery, but more help is always needed. Hill and I hope everyone will think about how they're helping the less fortunate. I'll leave you with a few photos from our trips near these recent disasters.

Mount Merapi is the tall peak on the right side of the photo.


The area around the volcano is densely populated because the land is so fertile, especially along its slopes.


Padang is one of Indonesia's largest cities, located around 150 miles from the tsunami. It's popular with tourists, especially surfers who use it as a jumping off point for the Mentawai islands, the sparsely inhabited islands struck by the recent tsunami. Last October, Padang experienced an earthquake, which killed more than 1,000 people.


On a happier note, a couple weeks ago we were invited to a reception to honor Indonesian independence day, so I wore my batik shirt and we even spoke a little Indonesian. We really enjoyed the food and getting to taste some of the flavors we have missed.