Indonesia (MNN) — A magnet for natural disasters. That’s one way to describe Indonesia, says Vincent Michael of FMI.
It all comes down to geography. “They’re right on the Ring of Fire in Southeast Asia. [They get] lots of volcanic activity and lots of earthquake activity, which makes general infrastructure improvements difficult. They also have a very volatile combination of sea currents that makes hurricanes and things like that a lot more common in the region. It’s not uncommon, both in ancient and modern times, that Indonesia would experience torrential rains and flooding.”
But Indonesia also doesn’t have the resources to build good infrastructure. This can make the effect of disasters even worse. Michael says, “When the population is growing, businesses go in, which means more of the landscape is being concreted. But the infrastructure is not keeping up. It’s lagging behind the growth of the cities. When the rainwater comes in, it has nowhere to go.”
How to pray
FMI supports many Indonesian pastors serving on several main islands. Pray they would have a fruitful ministry as they proclaim the risen Jesus.
Pray also that the Indonesian government would have wisdom as they oversee infrastructure building. It’s a difficult job in such a disaster-prone area.
The header image shows an Indonesia volcano erupting, with lighting strikes. (Photo courtesy of Oliver Spalt, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
