We're safe... Unfortunately the same cannot be said for everyone in this area of Indonesia... The latest reports are that the death toll has passed 3000, and the number of people injured is far more.

We were awoken with quite a start at 5:54 this morning by an earthquake that is said to have measured 6.2 on the Rikter scale! The quake lasted at least a minute (some reports are saying up to a minute and a half), but felt like forever...

Martin and I had been considering going to the beach this weekend, but are feeling very lucky to have stayed in town... although there is damage in town, it's mostly in the south, and the area we're staying in (north) is very well constructed and there was little damage, or I should say no MAJOR damage. The epicenter was about 26 kms from here, and the province to the south of us was hard-hit and is where the most damage (and deaths) have occurred... in a town called Bantul.

The actual experience was pretty insane... scary! Imagine being woken from a dead sleep to the house moving all around you, a horrific, unidentifiable sound, and the bed shaking like crazy (even though you didn't put in a quarter!). With all the talk, and focus on the volcano for the last while, we thought perhaps there had been an erruption, or that it was something to do with the volcano. Although neither Martin nor I have been that close to a volcanic erruption, it just didn't seem like it could be that... we felt it for a whole minute... and was a LOT of motion... we quickly got dressed and got out of the house... people were chatting in the streets, but our "IBU" ('house mother') told us earthquakes happen, it's just that they're not usually so strong and long... so we went back to bed. At about 8 the "Ibu" came running in the house, yelling that we were all going north... the streets were JAM-packed (even our 'quiet' little street) with people heading north (coincidentally TOWARD the volcano!?) to borobodur, and higher ground... there was a rumour spreading that a tsunami had hit and that the water had already arrived in jogja!? I told the ibu that we were not going, that it didn't seem like the best course of action to me, and that even if there were a tsunami the water would not be here (at least not by then)... but i think with the tsunami so fresh in everyone's minds, they were very reactionary... we came to Realia to find out it they had some more sensical information, and then just hung out... there have been 5 aftershocks that we have felt, but nothing so substantial as the 1st!

We have decided to stay close to home, and so have not seen any of the devastation that we are hearing about... there are houses with rooves caved in completely, and a hospital where the same happened... the glass is blown out of many buildings, and there are crevasses in the streets, heaving of pavement, and, of course, many injuries as a result of it all.

Tonight, there are people in the streets, sleeping in church/mosque-yards, and in FRONT of their houses...

Sorry for not getting word out sooner, but there was no power/internet/phone in most parts of the city until recently... or if there was, the lines were jammed! Although, you probably can get more up-to-date information there (!!!)... that's the most dis-quieting thing from our end!