A deadly 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami with waves as high as twenty feet, struck Indonesia on Friday, leaving at least 840 people dead and thousands homeless.
This earthquake struck the tourist island of Lombok, killing 98 people and injuring hundreds. Though very popular with visitors, those killed in the earthquake, Sunday, were Indonesian nationals. Officials are still searching for missing people among the rubble and estimate that the number of dead and injured persons will climb.
The leader of one of the Indonesian church most badly damaged by the suicide bombing attacks last Sunday, 13 May, has said he “can’t imagine” how much greater the damage could have been had the attacker detonated the bomb insidethe church.
As details emerge of the shocking tactics used in the two bomb attacks in Indonesia over the last 48 hours, a regional analyst has said he was not surprised by the apparent Islamist motive.
A third undocumented Indonesian has sought sanctuary in his New Jersey church, saying he fears deportation to his native country because Christians suffer persecution there.