Wednesday was just another sleepy day in the wake of the Idul Fitri holidays, when a major earthquake jolted the West Sumatra capital Padang, renowned as a symbol of the Minangkabau culture.

Famed for its people seeking knowledge and fortune far from home, relatives in many Indonesian towns frantically tried to find news of their loved ones while phone lines were cut off.

Having barely recovered from the 2007 quake in West Sumatra, residents now face the painful fact of living along the same fault line that provided the devastating quake and tsunami of December 2004, which mainly hit Aceh and Nias in northern Sumatra.

While quakes in Sumatra and Java have been fairly frequent since 2004 — the latest hit West Java, including Jakarta, on Sept. 2 — no one can predict when and where the next ones will hit.
While we mourn with the survivors, we must overcome our shock, and be prepared.  — JP