Derby avoids watching TV, holds fundraiser

JP/Ricky Yudhistira Jakarta: Actor and singer Derby Romero says he simply cannot bear watching the news on TV these days, given the string of natural disasters that have struck Indonesia recently.

“Sometimes I avoid watching the news. It hurts, and makes me want to cry when I see it. Just imagine I’m sleeping cozily at home, while all these people are subject to such strenuous living conditions,” he said Monday as quoted by Kapanlagi.com.

Derby started a fundraiser with his friends for people who survived the tsunami in Mentawai, West Sumatra, and Mount Merapi’s eruption, in Yogyakarta. Relief efforts for the two disaster-stricken areas are still ongoing. The combined death toll has exceeded 400 lives.

Derby said he really wanted to be in the field but he thought holding a fundraiser would be more effective.

“I see this as a cycle. This is nature and that’s how it should be. The earth spins and is always in motion and this is what happened. It’s a natural thing,” he said. — JP