Week 37: The Ring of Fire and Earthquakes

September 30^th 2018

We did not feel the earthquake in Palu.  The closest missionaries in the mission serve in the city of Manado on the NE tip of Sulawesi close to the Philippines. They are all safe.  We are broken hearted for the tragedy and loss of life and infrastructure in the Palu area on the island of Sulawesi. Palu is in the center and actually at the end of an inlet so Indonesians were taken by surprise, without warning, that a tsunami traveling at such a high speed would funnel down this inlet. Look carefully on the map and find the large island of Java.  We live in central Java; Surakarta.  Living in the “Ring of Fire” is an area of the world where we watch our earthquake app often.

These photos capture Elder Miller searching the many islands of Indonesia with our friend trying to locate exactly where this huge earthquake had just hit as news reports were streaming in and what precautions, if any we needed to take.  The map helped us realize we were very far and why we did not feel any shaking.

There is still much chaos and unknowns by authorities determining the total loss of life and damage. Tragic! Please pray with us for the people and country of Indonesia.