Tsumani in Jakarta

If you have seen the news recently- you've seen that a dam broke in a built up area in Jakarta and at least 77 people were killed in their sleep. I was under the impression that it was only the poor people who were affected, but I have heard some stories this morning (coffee with other expats while our kids playted futsal) that some expats had water damage and a couple of near misses. The 77 bodies are all poor people though. They don't have the luxury of sleeping upstairs or behind compound gates/fences. This is the reality of living in a third world country.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_indonesia_dam_bursts.html (I don't know how to do links yet).

What really surprised me was the that one of the fathers I was talking to donated 50 body bags that he had at the office. They also have 5 coffins, 3 gun licenses, $50K US, 3 glocks, 400 rounds of ammunition at their office AND a jet on contract to come at a moments notice. In the 1998 riots, he had 3 french soldiers (foreign legians?) guarding him as he stayed behind to represent the company. Type of industry he is in? Oil and Gas. Wow - that blew my mind.

What I have always trusted is that J's company will get us out in an emergency. They have an emergency plan and we would be evacuated in a riot, natural disaster or medical emergency. Are you thinking you have solved the riddle why noone wants to visit us? Come on - it's not like that all the time.

We have always thought we would batten down the hatches and stay at home in a crisis. When the floods were on in 2007 the only thing that affected us was our pool overflowed and we didn't have to go to school or work for a few days. We've also had a few mini earthquakes that we hadn't noticed. This house is built with the finest of Indonesian craftmanship, so it's definitely far from indestructible, but when you see the photos on the news of the houses in Indonesia, don't stress. We aren't suffering too much.

The furniture from our old house in Australia (minus the stuff in storage) fits upstairs. The kids ride their scooters around downstairs (as well as playing serious soccer dodgeball) because it's minimalist.