Mentawai islands

What amazes here is that people are so friendly and nice here. Even though there more calamities in Indonesia than one could imagine, you do not meet with complaining spirit. Here I am at Padang beachfront facing Mentawai about 100 miles away.

Today I met with Mercy Corps local leader. It was the first time I heard the detail story about the case of Mentawai islands tsunami. One of the worst hits islands of them had a pop. of 69,000. About 400 of them died, another few hundred wounded. What surprised me: 16 000 displaced people. The reason for big devastation is that the earthquake happened at 9:45 pm, when people are going to bed. Also, the tsunami rose in few minutes, since the epicenter was close to the island.

Getting help into the island is real challenge. There is no proper dock for bigger boats to land. Sometimes sea is really rough which makes it challenging anyone to land there. Yet, all in all 60 organisations are organising help there.

The other struggle here now is Merapi. It is a volcano on Java island. Villagers need to get evacuated from the areas where volcano material lands.