Relief for Indonesia Earthquake Survivors

Today we felt another earthquake.

It is past midnight and our team is all up working to revise our project plans and to ensure that our pilot transitional shelter project gets implemented in the next few days. We've been sitting here around a dimly lit table in our bungalow-barracks since before dinner. Five laptops open and fingers pouding away as we try to make these projects lean and efficient so that we can best help the people most affected by the earthquake. We debate the value of specific materials, management structures and how we can do the highest quality job and help the most people.

While we were all engrossed in our laptop screens, the earth started to shake. I've heard accounts of earthquakes likened to a freight train rumbling through the house. It wasn't that bad, but now I know what those people were talking about. As I both felt and heard the rumble, we all looked up from our computer screens and ran out the door.

There were actually two little earthquakes. My heart was beating in my throat. Once the ground calmed we all let off anxious 'Woah' and talked about how fast we could run and which route to take if it happened again.

Here in the Ring of Fire this is to be expected, I've just been in denial despite the hundreds of crumbled houses and buildings I've seen. We entered our bungalow with hesitation after waiting some time. I was pretty shaken and was thinking of the reports I'd read about people who refused to enter their homes or any structure, even for rest, in fear of another earthquake. I think I'd feel the same way.