Disaster in Indonesia BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Indonesia hunts disaster victims



I feel like it would be irresponsible for me not to post about this, but I'm not quite sure what to say.

emailing a friend earlier today, i realized that this is probably the absolute worst place, as far as geographical scope of damage, for an earthquake to occur. the indian ocean is flanked by eastern africa, south asia and southeast asia including indonesia. these regions represent some of the largest third-world populations in the world: india is the world's 2nd most populous country, indonesia is the world's 5th most populous country. no country on the indian ocean could be considered developed.

i'm rambling, but the point is that, in these relatively poor countries with improper infrastructure, some of the least privileged, poorest people live right on the coast. it's not like it is here in america where coastal proximity is a luxury, in fact it's quite the opposite. The result is that those most affected by earthquake-caused tsunamis will be poor fishermen eking out an existence in coastal lowlands - and these same people will have the least natural access to aid.

i know that I'm generalizing, and that coastal resorts and ports were also affected, and that devastation - especially in this type of catastrophe - tends to ignore class.

remember the old murphy's law aphorism? I always hated murphy's law.

as for whether or not this will change my plans, I doubt it - when I initially realized I wanted to go to Indonesia, I had to come to terms with the danger of it. regardless of natural disasters, it's not a safe place to be an American right now. I have no good reason why I don't really worry for myself, but I'm confident i'll be ok.  ¶ 10:34 PM