Never had I been so thankful to America as I was on Thursday, February 12, 2009. At 1:34 am local time, a powerful tectonic earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale shook Talaud Islands, the northernmost part of Indonesia, where I originally come from. In Jakarta, 2500 km down Southwest, I was soundly asleep. A cousin called not long after that but I had already had my mobile silenced before going to bed. Six hours later, when I saw the unanswered call, I called him back but couldn’t get through. Unaware of the situation, I dialed my sister and asked perhaps she knew why my cousin called me at such hour. [More...]
