Mount Merapi

chad+bouchard

2011-03-22T10:59:00.001-07:00

http%3A%2F%2Ffuriousanimation%2Ecom%2Ffanslim%2Ehtml

Trip to School

2006-06-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

It appears that the thirst for news about the earthquake has been slaked, a chilling point for the news market. Every disaster has an expiration date for the attention, the charity, and the compassion it can draw. In Jogjakarta, that’s come sooner than I expected. I’ve been told the earthquake coverage has been pre-empted in the U.S. by a story about a terrorist cell that was captured in Toronto. They had a lot of explosives. But they didn’t get a chance to use them. I would have to say it’s an important story, but I also have to say it’s about something that didn’t happen. It's worth thinking about how many of the news stories you read are about what is happening.

An example: there’s been a spike in coverage over concerns about post-earthquake bird flu outbreaks. You should know that many of the NGO workers and PR people I talked to are rolling their eyes over this particular news angle. Again, there have been no cases reported in the quake zone. Again, this story is about something that hasn’t happened. The worry is that people are sleeping in chicken coops because they’re the only safe structure around. The quotes on this story might actually come from the WHO, but it’s certainly not the organization’s first concern right now. Outbreaks of common diseases such as diarrhea or staph are much more likely to claim lives in an area still in need of clean water and sanitation. But at this point, that hasn’t happened either.

Here’s something that is happening. People are emotionally traumatized and they need help. For background, check out this story. I spent a morning with Red Cross volunteers (actually from a federation of Red Cross agencies like the Paling Mera, the American Red Cross, and the Red Crescent Societies), most of whom had just come from Aceh. They had started a small makeshift schoolroom for child survivors in a small village called Birin. 37 of its 3-500 residents died in the earthquake. We pulled over on the town’s main artery, walked into one of the capillaries, and over a wasteland of dusty rubble. Every adult was working – cleaning dishes in fish tank, hanging wash in the latticework of a collapsed barn, frying noodles in an open courtyard that used to be someone’s bedroom.

The volunteers gathered children from the village like pied pipers. Soon their tent was squirming with 50 or more excited little things. A volunteer told me one girl jumped up when she heard there was a school, and ran to a cabinet in the remains of her house. She pulled out a plastic Popeye backpack and held it up in triumph, though there wasn’t anything to put inside.

They sang songs and clapped – which is golden kind of tape for a radio story. They also drew pictures with crayons – most of them drew scenes with volcanoes – red lava spitting out the tops of triangles. Maybe I made more of that than I should have, but it certainly struck me as a barometer of their anxiety. The kids laughed and giggled and acted like kids. There should be a word for something that breaks your heart and lifts you up at the same time. I had to step away from the tent for a while to keep from getting teary. A lot of the kids had wounds – one shy 11-year-old boy showed up on crutches dragging a broken leg, and there was a happy toddler with a nasty looking head wound. Still, it seemed like a classroom, and the kids looked to me like they’re going to be okay.

As far as I can tell, psychological services like this really should arrive at the same time as the food and water. It should be integrated with the whole first responder basic needs package. In this terrible landscape of destruction, most people aren’t sleeping through the night. A professor at Sardjito Hospital said the Jogjakartans were showing a lot of physical manifestations of emotional trauma – like headaches and raised body temperatures. He said that’s because they tend to internalize stress more than other parts of the archipelago. There’s a local saying – if you loose your arm, thank god you’ve got one left. I read a great article that leads with another Javanese aphorism: everything is good luck. Sadly, eternal optimism comes at a price. It may be harder to get the anxiety out. It’s gotta get digested somehow. That’s what’s happening in Jogjakarta now.

Weekly Wrap-Up

2006-06-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been up to this week. I'm back in Jakarta for now, but I have plenty of material to post here - so stay tuned.

Sunday: Ancient Hindu Temple Damaged in Indonesian Earthquake

Saturday: nothing filed. All day in the field.

Friday: WHO on Watch for Disease Outbreaks After Central Java Earthquake (not yet posted)

And one spot for NPR.

Thursday: US Navy and Marines Help Treat Injured After Indonesian Quake

And one spot for NPR.

Wednesday: Rural Quake Victims Still Not Getting Aid in Indonesia

An interview with World Vision.

And one spot for NPR.

Tuesday: Relief Operations Swing into Gear in Quake-Stricken Central Java

An interview for the Here and Now show from WBUR in Boston

Monday: Indonesian Hospitals Struggle to Help Quake Victims

And one spot for NPR.

Saturday: Relief Efforts Under Way After Deadly Indonesian Quake

And one spot for NPR. (news spots are not archived)

Marine Docs

2006-06-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a Marine field hospital, and ended up riding with them
as they looked for injured people in Klaten. We went from local
hospital to hospital looking for patients who needed surgeries. A
team of 7 highly trained combat surgeons rode in a convoy of 5 IOM
vehicles. No patients to be found. Everyone was baffled. The TNI,
Indonesian military, had called the Marine commander in the morning,
and said that there were 7000 seriously injured and 1500 likely
injured out there somewhere. No one seemed to know where they were.
"We need food," the first clinic manager said. "Not doctors." The
commander explained that they could leave antibiotics and rubber
gloves, but didn't have any food.

I ended up being a asset to the team, because they were short on
translators, and I was able to relay driving directions to our driver.
He was really grumpy. He didn't know why we were out in the middle
of traffic looking for wounded people. He wanted to go home. He
didn't want any of the military rations for lunch. I ate my Mexican
mac-and-cheese with my hands. He thought that was very funny.

We passed through a lot of villages which had been reduced to
construction waste. I thought about how much they looked like the
piles of building materials we used to haul off when I worked for a
construction company in North Carolina. Yeah, 30 seconds. It's
really hard to wreck a building by hand. We did that a few times to
make way for additions or start a repair. Hard work. Crow bar,
hammer, pull, haul, chuck. I just think of all the calories a crew of
10 people burn doing that kind of work. Mother Earth shudders for
less than a minute and ten thousand concrete houses just lay down.

Near the end of the day, Commander Carlos Godinez got a call from the
base camp. A patient he'd seen the day before was in very bad shape.
We arrived at the hospital as 25-year old Ctsiti Nuriyoni was wheeled
in on a gurney. She was heaving – at something like 32 breaths per
minute – and rolling her eyes. Godinez noticed yesterday that she'd
been laying on a sidewalk near a hospital for four days with a tube
coming out of her chest. Someone had put the tube in to help her
breathing, but the staff wasn't able to attend to her after it was put
in.

A wall fell on her during the quake and crushed her ribs into
splinters like crackers in soup. Her husband arrived soon afterwards
and told us their newborn baby died in the earthquake. He hadn't told
her yet, because she'd been to ill and didn't want to make it worse.
I noticed a bag of pink fluid dangling from the gurney. Looked like a
bag of Nestlees' Strawberry Quick. I asked Godinez what it meant.
"Infection," he said. "That fluid was clear enough to read a
newspaper through yesterday. She needs a bigger tube put in - right
now."

But they didn't have a bigger tube. So he called the mobile hospital,
which is in the middle of a soccer stadium in Bantul, and asked for a
tube. It took an hour to arrive.

He thinks she's going to be okay now. But Ctsiti's condition was
preventable. She's the kind of patient that's slipping through the
cracks everywhere. She lasted for four days without drawing
attention, and it almost killed her. A broken bone can be fatal after
four days. Now it's a few days after 200-thousand people were crushed
and evicted from shelter. News interest is dropping, but the
suffering is just about to put on a new mask.

Riding with Subardjo

2006-05-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

See below. Subardjo's the guy in front,
with the death's head t-shirt.

Bantul and beyond

2006-05-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

Link to Chad's VOA story from this excursion

Hi, this is Trish! I'm guest-blogging for Chad, who is still working like crazy down in Yogya. My job has brought me back to Jakarta. We're both fine, health- and safety- wise.

Night before last we headed into Bantul, which has become ground zero for aid workers and journalists. We weren't sure what we were looking for ... just something to record. What we found was a beat-up pickup truck full of teenagers, and a guy named Subardjo.

Subardjo is the kind of person reporters love. He makes things happen. Even though he has no formal education - his parents were too poor to send him to school - he's managed to start what's obviously a pretty lucrative business as a master woodworker. Oh, and he taught himself English on the side. Subardjo had gotten a million rupiah (about a hundred dollars) from a client earlier that day, so he'd promptly gone out and bought water, medical supplies and that Indonesian staple, ramen noodles. He was driving around to all the little villages where he knows people, dropping off supplies.

"Jump in," he said. How could we say no? We jumped in.

The truck turned up a narrow dirt road. There's no electricity, hence no electric lights, so the stars were really bright. We were in the truck bed, with the whole sky open above us. I just stared up and gorged myself on stars, because we never see them in Jakarta. Then we passed an open field with hundreds of fireflies: stars above, stars below.

When we got to the village, everybody came out to say hello. There were tarps strung up to make big tents; it looked like twenty or thirty people per tent. Candles and oil lamps provided the only light. Pretty soon we were standing around in a big circle of people; everybody chatting, dandling babies, and holding the hands of bigger kids, who stared at us. We did some interviews. Then some of the guys took us around to see the quake damage. The pictures don't do it justice. That's partly because it was really dark, so I couldn't tell what was in my viewfinder when I pressed the button. But really, none of the pictures do it justice. It's disturbing to stand in front of a house that's completely flattened, and have someone describe how it happened in just thirty seconds. All that brick and metal coming down on you, in thirty seconds.

I believe only 12 people died in that village, which is miraculous, because nearly every building was destroyed, and there are 350 residents.

"Excuse me for wearing this helmet," said one guy we interviewed, a teacher at the local school. He had on one of the cheezy white motorcycle helmets they sell here, which have all the
bulk and structural integrity of Kleenex. "It's just that I have to protect my head because of this injury." Then he took the helmet off and showed us a deep gash in his scalp.

"I scooped up my children when the earthquake hit," he said, "and I ran for the door, but something hit me on the way out."

We talked with people, we took pictures, but in the end there's nothing that can make you understand what it feels like to have the whole world fall on your head. I hope I never find out for myself.

(His children are fine, by the way.)

Earthquake update and interactive map

2006-05-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

VOA news has an update on the relief efforts and an interesting link (heavy use of Flash) to a map of the affected area with some geologic background.
-Daydreamthief -

Quake help links and translation tools

2006-05-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Ndesanjo just sent me these great links to post on the blog.

The first is a wiki created to track news, links to aid organizations, and resources for people who need more information about the event.
QuakeHelp

And this online translation tool to translate from English to Indonesian (and reverse).
As with any web app, use it with a grain of salt and make allowances for crazy translation.
Toggletext

Halo kepada semua pembaca Indonesia. Harapan alat ini menolong
dan tidak menjengkelkan. Makasih

And for those of you who need some sort of visual reference for the things we are talking about, I came across these maps created by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System.
GDACS

-Daydreamthief-

(image from USGS Earthquake Center)

Bantul

2006-05-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Today I saw a lot of bodies and a lot of suffering people. The Bantul
district was flattened by the quake, and only a few buildings like the
hospital I visited remain intact. There were hundreds of people with
head wounds and crushed limbs in the ward – all spread out on blankets
and straw mats around the floor. There were open air surgeries going
on all over the place – mostly sutures and fracture setting business.
There's clearly not a lot of pain killers around because the people,
many of them kids, were screaming while the doctors worked.

Hundreds of people have turned to begging for aid. This morning
international aid still hadn't been distributed, and it's clear most
had gone hungry since Saturday. Even the people at the hospital
hadn't eaten since their previous breakfast 24 hours and a long night
ago. I talked to some of the people on the roadside, gave them what I
could. People who are not used to begging are especially emotional
about it. It's a line many people don't expect to cross. Even with
so many people crossing the line at once, the resulting humility can
be expensive.

There was also a mosque that had been turned into a morgue. I thought
it was stacks of supplies at first, maybe tents, because Muslim people
wrap their dead in a way that's still not immediately familiar to me.
In plain cloth, sort of bundled. Thousands of people died here. I saw
just a few dozen.

I feel like such details may be too sensational to put up here- the
kind of thing that ends up on bad disaster TV anyway. But the fact is
it's all I can think about. I've never seen anything like it. These
people are having a terrible week. I held my sensations at bay for
most of the day, but they poked through at awkward times otherwise.
While reading stories for the network, for example, it's best not to
weep. If you do, they'll accuse you of sensationalism.

An update of sorts

2006-05-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

Not much personal news to report.
I chatted briefly with Trish this morning.
She had just arrived in Yogya to help Chad out for a few days.
She said Chad was okay, but exhausted.
Sounds like he's been working non-stop since he arrived.

News of the quake disaster seems to be slowing down and focusing on the disaster relief that is slowly trickling in.
Activity in Mount Merapi has picked up, and scientists and officials are keeping a worried eye on it.

For updated news and images from the area I've been following these links -
Godote at flickr has posted an amazing series of images from the quake. The one I used for this post knocked the wind out of me.
VOA - Chad's story for Voice of America
Indonesia Help - This seems to be a really good compilation site that contains links and info from a number of different sites and mailing lists focusing on the disaster.
The Jakarta Post - they have some great reporting on the event. This quote jumped out at me -

Though desperate, many people continue to display the traditional Javanese spirit of accepting fate and seeking the positive, no matter how dire the circumstances.
With his sarong tied between tree branches to provide some cover, 75-year-old Paryo remained defiant in spirit.
"We should be ashamed of begging, even to the government. We must bear our fate," the old man insisted.

BBC
NPR
Time Asia

Everybody take care and stay tuned.
-Daydreamthief-

(image via Godote @ flickr)

Back in Jogja

2006-05-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Jogjakarta early this evening after an epic plane and
taxi trip via Solo, about an hour (in normal circumstances) east of
the royal city. We sat on the runway for almost an hour waiting for UN
planes to offload aid supplies at the terminal. It was hot in there,
but it's hard to complain about that kind of delay. Hundreds of
people were lined up against a chain link fence outside the terminal,
waiting for transportation out of the area. It's bad here. Looks
like the number of deaths could pass 5000.

Indonesia Help

2006-05-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a website with updated information on the quake, missing person lists, and pictures/videos.
-Daydreamthief-

Earthquake relief

2006-05-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

So, if you're like me, you've spent the morning freaking out.
To break myself out of this state, I've decided to do some research and find some resources to help out. When I did a search for organizations doing disaster relief, I came across this BBC page. This post was in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. There are a bunch of great links to a number of different organizations who can help out in this time of crisis. I've also put a link to the IFRC donation page on the sidebar if you want to support their efforts.
I'd also like to open this topic to the readers of this blog. Do you have any links or resources you would like to share? Pass them on and I'll post them.
Thanks,
Daydreamthief

Indonesian earthquake report

2006-05-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a Voice of America story about the quake with links to an audio report by Chad.
Feels good to hear his voice.
peace,
Daydreamthief

2006-05-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

Massive earthquake in central Indonesia.

Hey folks, Daydreamthief here doing a quick guest post for Chad.
If you haven't heard the news yet, there was a 6.2 earthquake that struck near Jogjakarta in central Indonesia early Saturday morning. Initial reports estimate the death toll around 2700-3000 and with thousands injured and trapped. Officials with the ministry's geological division are concerned that the seismic activity will trigger a larger eruption of Mount Merapi.
I talked to Chad this morning in Jakarta, and he was fine but getting ready to head back to Jogjakarta to report on the disaster. As you can imagine that region is completely chaotic, so communication with Chad might be a little difficult, but we'll try to keep the information updated on this site. If you would like to help I'll put a link to the International Red Cross/Red Crescent donation page. Trish will probably be in better contact with Chad so be sure to check out her blog when you can.
Here are some news links to keep you up to date.
The Jakarta Post
BBC News
Guardian Unlimited
New York Times

(image via The Jakarta Post)

2006-05-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

Hello, volcano watchers. I have returned to Jakarta to file stories about Merapi, and to regroup after a week of adventures. Today, I filed a longish story for VOA, and it should be available to link sometime tomorrow. The story’s about local beliefs surrounding the mountain, a subject I still feel drawn to. After it airs tomorrow, I’d like to post some longer clips of the source interviews. I feel it’s easy to dismiss the beliefs and the culture when all you know is that the government wants the people to leave, but they won’t because of their traditions. Too stubborn or superstitious, maybe. But I think we’ve missed the train and the station altogether if that’s all journalists can manage to broadcast. The traditions are more subtle, more complicated, and more useful than all of that. I hope to give you enough information to make up your own minds.

For those wanting today’s science report, the mountain tremulated 76 times, belched 46 toxic heat clouds, and spit more than 70 rivulets of lava. It’s active, folks, and the dome at its summit is growing more fragile each day. We certainly haven’t seen the end of this “broom which sweeps everything away”.

2006-05-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Kaliurang volcanologist

Watching lava spill out of a volcano was arresting. I was arrested. Even from 6 miles away, its 2000 Fahrenheit glow knocked the wind out of me. A burning river tumbled down the mountainside, splashing orange bright beads like ocean spray along the way. The color deepened to red as it snaked down the mountain. I saw eight such fountains while I was there. It’s a serious thing, lava. That’s what I learned. As one of the flows turned toward us, I felt vulnerable as a blade of grass in a brush fire. Though I knew it probably wouldn’t make it even half the distance, I shuddered.
There were hundreds of people there, sitting on blankets at the entrance to a golf course in the middle of the night. A whole busload of Ibus showed up while we were there. Nearly expected a bingo game to break out. I’ve got some tape of the guys talking about the lava before we went up to see it. At the end of the audio, you can hear them convincing me to go. That’s all it takes, I suppose, to bring a sacrifice to the edge of a volcano.

2006-05-20T03:54:00.003-07:00

Watching lava spill out of a volcano was arresting. I was arrested. Even from 6 miles away, its 2000 Fahrenheit glow knocked the wind out of me. A burning river tumbled down the mountainside, splashing orange bright beads like ocean spray along the way. The color deepened to red as it snaked down the mountain. I saw eight such fountains while I was there. It’s a serious thing, lava. That’s what I learned. As one of the flows turned toward us, I felt vulnerable as a blade of grass in a brush fire. Though I knew it probably wouldn’t make it even half the distance, I shuddered.

There were hundreds of people there, sitting on blankets at the entrance to a golf course in the middle of the night. A whole busload of Ibus showed up while we were there. Nearly expected a bingo game to break out.

I’ve got some tape of the guys talking about the lava before we went up to see it. At the end of the audio, you can hear them convincing me to go. That’s all it takes, I suppose, to bring a sacrifice to the edge of a volcano.

2006-05-20T03:54:00.002-07:00

Just thought I’d post a clip of some traditional Javanese instruments I got to play at a museum. I’d like to think the largest gongs speak in some way on behalf of the mountain.

Click here for an audio clip from my interview with Mount Merapi.

2006-05-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

A quick update: mountain’s smoky again today, and lava’s still shooting out regularly. 44 times today, according to Subandrio. I talked to him earlier in the week about the mountain. He seems sleep deprived and punchy. Here’s an excerpt from the interview. I should add that his boss, the head of the volcanology office, has been sick since Tuesday. His boss is much better with English, but not nearly as fun.

Click here for an interview with Subandrio from Thursday.

And here's the center's website. Great info, and some fun background. Gotta love the glossary:

The classification of Merapi seismic events has been improved since the 1984 eruption. Merapi seismic signals are distinguished into six (6) types:
V_A event. It is the deepest tectonic-like volcano-seismic events known in Merapi volcano. The hypocenter depth ranges from 2 to 5 km below the summit. The P and S phases are clearly separated. Dominant frequency recorded at 2625-m altitude is between 5 to 8 Hz. Amplitude is comparable between all stations because the source is about the same distance from all the stations.
V_B event. This type is similar in their frequency to the V_A events. Due to the close proximity of the hypocenter, the S phase is difficult to accurately identify. The depth of hypocenter is usually less than 1.5 km from the summit.
MP event. The term "MP" ("manyphases") was proposed firstly by Shimozuru et al. (1970) to describe seismic events that occur during the lava dome formation. For a given amplitude, MP event has a longer duration than that a V-type event. Further away from the summit, the amplitude is strongly attenuated. The dominant frequency is about 3 to 4 Hz.
LF event. This is a low frequency seismic event of about 1.5 Hz. The frequency content is constant from one station to others. The seismograph positioned close to summit records the event with a much higher amplitude than at more distant stations indicating that it has a shallow origin (less than 1 km).
Tremor. Tremor is easy to distinguish from other seismic events because of its duration. Its frequency content is similar to that of LF event.
Guguran. This is a local term for landslide or rockfall originating from the lava dome. On seismogram signal associated to rockfall has a high frequency content and a long duration. The duration of signal is about equal to the duration of rockfall process.

2006-05-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

Last night, I closed in on the mountain to get a look at the lava. A group of students studying English at the school I’ve been attending offered to sneak me up to a spot about 6 miles from the crater. The outer edge of the predicted danger zone is 4 miles from the summit. The group was comprised mostly of Indonesian guys who like to play army with air rifles. Think paintball geeks, and you’ll have the right picture. On the way, we talked a lot about their favorite guns, and which American war movies are the best. Steven Segal seems to have a special place in their heart. The older English teachers prefer Apocalypse Now and Bridge over the River Quai. The younger ones like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. The M4 and AK series semi-automatics won the Best Weapon award among the group. It was an interesting connection to make – I can hold up my end of a conversation about war hardware in spite of my hippie parentage. I had a lot of ROTC friends in high school.

We had a really interesting bilingual discussion about each weapon’s merits, and the best squad tactics for taking a hill. I was surprised to hear that as passionate as these guys are about the military, they all agree gun ownership should be heavily regulated. They told me they thought it was crazy, reckless, and absurd that people can buy guns cheaply and easily in the U.S. They all have expensive remakes that look exactly like their deadly counterparts, but by law must to carry them in locked cases out of view of the public. I told them they could buy real guns and ammo at some supermarkets in the U.S. Their eyes grew in shock. But how do you know if the people can use the guns the right way? They asked. People would die from accidents and criminals! Yes, it happens, I told them. I told them many people want the right to defend themselves against their own government. It took me a few times to get the meaning of my question across. It’s not good thinking, they said. The government always has better guns.

Then I asked them, if they’d buy a real gun in the supermarket if they could. Oh, yes, one of them said. I’d buy a semi-automatic. A Kalishnakoff, if I could. And a sidearm. A Bulldog 44 magnum. Then he paused, and smiled to himself. But I’d be afraid to leave the house, because everyone else would have one, too.

(image via Hugo under creative commons license)

2006-05-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

I filed a spot last night after the mountain coughed up another plume of soot and toxic gas. A part of the lava dome collapsed – it’s 1.3 million cubic meters in volume – anyone want to submit size comparisons? How many famous skyscrapers full of lava is that? In any case, the volcanologists say the dome’s structural integrity is the key to it’s pending eruption. If it all goes at once, it’ll be a big one. Monday’ and Wednesday’s explosions were caused by just a small part of the dome falling into the crater. So far, the spiritual watchers have remained cool about the state of the “mountain of fire”. So there’s still a lot of people up there, even though rivers of lava have been flowing out of the crater for several days. The royal volcano watcher still says it’s not going to erupt yet. The mountain erupts every two to seven years, and so far, his prediction rate has been a hundred percent correct.

2006-05-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

The mountain was quiet again today.

This is a shot of the seismograph at the monitoring post in Kaliurang, about 4 kilometers from the crater. The guys up there say they’re sleeping about 2 hours a day in rotating shifts. After a clumsy interview in Bhasa Indonesia, they told me I reminded them of Mr. Bean.

My friend Mike has file a story for the Christian Science Monitor. What do you think? It’s great to see the story he spun from our interviews up there. I also like what he got from Christan about how the local customs protect the mountain and its resources.

Mike's Story Here

2006-05-16T02:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to thank pirate journalism supporters out there. Avast! I appreciate that people are reading the posts, and thanks very much for dimes in the tip jar. We’re all outside the box together in this experiment.

I’ve been feeling a bit like a journalism version of Penn and Teller. Their gag is to show their audience how the magic trick works while they perform it. I suppose I’m reporting on reporting, really. It’s a goofy trade. As goofy as a magic act. The forces that propel and manipulate stories can be frustrating, and every bit as mysterious as a flight of disappearing doves. For example, the mountain is quiet today. So is the market for stories about Merapi. You may notice when an ongoing story slows, that journalists start interviewing each other. Pay attention. These can be precious, candid, and especially awkward moments. For my next act, I’ve been asked to talk to a reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald.

I’d like to give props to my friend with the Associated Press for writing this article. Chris is a great guy who helped me get my new apartment in Jakarta. When the mountain got quiet, Chris went to a golf course.

The caddies have fled. A pair of cleaning ladies squat in the shade of a tree near the 18th hole. The club's manager sits and smokes, knowing he's in for a quiet couple of weeks.

It’s brilliant. It’s like a series of haikus, really. And the problem is real. The volcano has shooed all the tourists (and their money) away since it started waking up more than a month ago.

Golf.

An angle with a sense of humor.

I’m headed to the vulcanology office, but I’m afraid the road I’m on for this story is hackneyed. Volcano update. Volcano quiet. The assistant escaped through a hatch in the floor. He pinches the coin with his palm. Nothing over here. Presto.

2006-05-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Mountain and villages surrounding Merapi

I spend a great deal of my reporting time here sitting in front of a computer waiting to here back from editors. Filing a spot takes several steps. First, an email to ask if the network is interested. Then the answer. Then one writes the script, sends it, and waits for a reply. Since phone calls cost about a dollar a minute from here, I also have to plead a little bit for the editor to their editing without a phone call. Radio editors like to hear the story read over the phone before you file it, and they want to do edits with you live. But hopefully they just send an answer back with some changes to the script. Then you have to record the thing.

Recording in a quiet place can be an epic problem. Here I’ve been recording in a storage closet full of Styrofoam computer packaging. I put a shirt over my head and close the door to protect against unwanted echo. My mic cord is not very good at the moment, so it sizzles if I don’t stand very still. It’s hot in the closet with the door closed. Then I have to import the recording into my laptop, delete the screw-ups, and cut it into smallish WAV files to be emailed to the network. Emailing a 1 megabite file can take up to an hour, though I was able to reach breakneck speeds of 20 minutes per megabite Sunday night. Last night it took me more than 2 hours to file 4 megabites.

For a 45 second story, the whole round trip can take nearly 6 hours. Most of that time is spent watching for a response. I’m often afraid to leave the room because I want to keep my response time to a minimum. I’d rather be out reporting. I’d rather go to the volcanology center and ask for an update. There are people I can see from here sitting on the peaks of their houses, looking toward Merapi. That’s where I want to be most of all.

2006-05-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody.
It's Jason from daydreamthief.
I'm doing some guest blogging while my friend gets some rest.
I had encouraged him to try this experiment when he told me about the frustrations and difficulties of being a freelance reporter.
I can't/won't speak for his personal experiences.
He'll do an excellent job of that soon enough.
But I would like to open up some sort of forum for discussion on this topic of alternate resources for the dissemination of information.
I can't imagine what it must be like to be on the other side of the world, trying to make a living hustling information to the rest of us while dealing with earth shaking natural phenomena, language/cultural barriers, politics, money, technology, corporate media, etc.
There has to be a better way to do things.
I think a few brave pioneers are starting to lead the way.
People like Josh Ellis, Christopher Albritton, Kevin Sites and others are pushing the boundaries of who can report the news and how to deliver the stories that mainstream media is missing.
I'd like to think that Chad is among that group.

So what do you guys think?
Is this nuts?
Can some guy go to opposite side of the globe and count on ordinary people to help him discover new ways of telling a story?
Are we all high on web 2.0 fumes?
Can an ordinary person make a difference with the enough talent, the right tech, and boundless curiosity?
And if we netizens can make a difference, then what?
What are you guys curious about?
You have someone sitting in one of the most amazing places in the world during the most amazing times in human history. Your eyes and ears.
How many have been near an erupting volcano?
Who would you talk to?
What sounds would you record?
What real human stories would you want to read about?
How much would that be worth to you?
A buck? Two?
-How much did you spend on that newspaper so you could play sudoku?
5 minutes to post a reply or copy down a link and put it on your blog? You do have a blog, right?
Me?
I'm just a poor college student with a wife and two kids, but I can do something. I can help him with code and tech hassles. I can shop his blog around and try to generate some traffic for him. I can hunt down those other pioneers and ask them for advice and encouragement. I can hijack his blog and write long rambling posts.
I'm going to break down my revival tent now.
Everybody take 5.
Then come back and do something!
peace,
j

(image via voyager @ http://www.worldwindcentral.com/ under creative commons license)

2006-05-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, yesterday I went to an evacuation camp to talk with people who’ve sought shelter outside the risk area. When we pulled up to the converted elementary school, a circle of TNI soldiers greeted us with smiles. They’re all used to the media attention, but seemed a little surprised to hear that we were reporting for America. I’ve had several discussions here that go like this. Reporter from America? Really? Aren’t you afraid? Don’t the Americans think we’re all terrorists? Not me, I say. I know most people in Indonesia are good people. Just a few mean ones, I say. But why don’t you tell all the tourists to come back? They say. Okay, I say; I’ll try. At the evacuation camp, surrounded by soldiers in jungle camouflage, I ended the conversation by saying: but can you take me to the terrorists, please?

The camp was small and cramped, with two thousand people living elbow to elbow on the floor of the classrooms. There were 30 people in the one we visited, and there were children running around everywhere. People staying there are from the mountain villages, and most of them haven’t seen a lot of white faces up close. We were certainly the focus of amusement during out few minutes there. We talked to Ibu Lis, whose husband was still up on the mountain as of Sunday afternoon. She told us that she’d been staying in the shelter, on the crowded floor of the classroom, for 10 days. She said she hasn’t had any income at all since the evacuation. Only government help, she said. I asked her if she was worried for her husband. Of course, she said. Farming can be dangerous work.

Outside in the courtyard, we crouched next to a circle of women who were packing food in plastic bags for the evacuees. A huge metal pot of something called sayor. Green beans, potatoes, in a very spicy red sauce. They insisted we try some. It was fantastic. They wanted to give us more. We tried to refuse. Something very weird about taking food made for emergency evacuees. Our translator from Jogja refused to try it, and was obviously concerned about the sanitation there. I recorded our conversation with the volunteers, who were obviously found my Bhasa and my recording of the sayor pot very amusing. I’m interviewing the sayor, I told them. You can make up your own mind about their reaction by listening to the audio link below.

A group of women preparing a traditional dish in an evacuation camp near Mount Merapi

2006-05-15T01:48:00.000-07:00

I could see glowing lava and a huge plume of volcanic ash spewing from the mouth of the beast this morning as dawn broke in Jogjakarta. It’s not yet clear if this constitutes an official eruption, but the awe and worry I feel this morning is as palpable as the growing plume on the horizon. I know people up there. People I like. People in Kaliurang who have refused to leave their animals and homes behind. Yesterday, I talked with the wives and children of some of those people staying in the evacuation camp. I find myself wishing it’d all be a false alarm.

The good news is that it seems to be reaching its eruption stage slowly. The ash and heat clouds have seeped out, the goats have started coming down the slopes, and with them many of those who stayed behind. If it erupts slowly, most will be safe. I certainly want that more than the story I came here to tell.

2006-05-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

Today I traveled to an evacuation camp for people who have fled the waking dragon. First, I’d like to tell you how that kind of thing happens. I SMS’d another freelancer here, we’ll call him Mike, who has been filing print stories about Merapi from Jogjakarta. I met him during my last visit here, and we ended up working on our interviews together. I tell him I want to go find a refugee camp, and go check my email for updates on my pitches and then email editors about what I plan to do. A Very Big Public Radio Network tells me they want a spot or two about the evacuation, and Mike calls me back to tell me A Very Big Christian Science Magazine wants 700 words.

Off we go.

I ask around for the location of a camp – just security guards and people at the check-in desk near the language school I’ve been attending. No one knows. Go to Kaliurang, they say. Mike finds a translator through the school and rents a motorbike. All the rental places are closed, so I ask an ojek guy if I can hire him for the day. Ten dollars. He’s beside of himself with joy. We go very fast between moving vehicles to meet Mike and get directions to a camp. I take a breath and tighten the eggshell of a helmet he’s provided. Off to the evacuation headquarters first to get an interview about the situation. There’s a logistics post that seems more like a logic puzzle. They’re pretty used to getting hounded by media now, since the alert level’s been high for several weeks. Reporters love alerts. The evacuation leaders let us wear orange armbands, too.

Off to camp.

Stay tuned for a post about it soon. Here’s some audio to appetize.

2006-05-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

I was up until nearly dawn filing a spot about the evacuation for a Very Big Public Radio Network. Walking back to my homestay in the early hours, I noticed a reddish glow aura coming from the western horizon which could have been a sunset but for the time. A false sun called Merapi. The plume of smoke drifted out of its triangular profile toward the north, lit from the inside by a flow of lava now more than a mile down its slope. The moon was full, Jupiter to its flank, and the elements framed by palm tree fronds. Primordial, astronomical, and troubling.

2006-05-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

A ten-thousand foot volcano in Central Java is waking up, and I can see lava from here. I’m a freelance radio reporter studying in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, about ten miles from the bubbling crater. Today a fleet of military trucks and busses evacuated about seventeen thousand people after geologists sounded the red alert. Mount Merapi’s been groaning for several weeks now, and I’ve been talking with scientists and some of the villagers who live on its fertile slopes. Over the next week or so I’d like to describe what I see.

It’s a small volcano, but it’s right in the middle of a densely populated area. Volcanologists here say it usually erupts at about 3 or 4 on their scale, while the biggest eruptions on our planet are register a 7 or 8. It has erupted every 2 to 7 years for the last few centuries, which means the pressure gets released often. It’s also unpredictable – I imagine it’s like an old coffee percolator sputtering in geological time.

Here’s the really interesting thing. The Javanese believe there’s a spirit kingdom at the top of the mountain. They have been waiting for its king to give the signal to evacuate. Like many of Indonesia’s island cultures, people on the mountain have preserved and interwoven ancient animist beliefs with Islam. So thousands of people have been staying at home in spite of the government’s warnings to get out of the risk area. A few weeks ago, I saw transport trucks full of men wearing their Saturday best batik shirts headed down the road. My guide said they were going to a special feast meant to pray for safety from the mountain.

But now they’re all in evacuation camps. I was at a huge celebration of Buddha’s birthday at the ancient Borobodor temple when the evacuation started. Tomorrow I’ll try to talk with refugees. I know some of them; drank their tea and attended one of their sacrifice ceremonies. I know they are probably scared, and probably irritated. The farmers didn’t want to leave because they have to take care of their livestock. I’m thinking about all those animals up there. Thousands of goats and cows and chickens in pens and fields while the humans wait for the mountain to explode at its base. I wonder what they’ll all do now. I wonder if they’ve heard from the mountain king