Indonesia is part of the Ring Of Fire, the circle of fault lines and volcanoes that ring the Pacific. Its quite common for Indonesia to register small earthquakes and recently we had a fairly large one. Last Saturday at 1.58am there was a 7.7 quake which was located directly under Timor. The shaker was felt over a wide area, supposedly in Bali too, although I did not feel it.
In rural areas an earthquake is not such a big deal, but in cities, with the sketchy building codes and cheap construction, you might have trouble. If you are in a building and feel an earthquake, leave the building immediately. Do not use elevators or wooden stairs. Contrary to popular belief, the safest place inside a building is not in a doorway. You will either be cut in half by the failing walls or the roof collapsing in.
If you are inside a building which is suffering structural failure and cannot escape, look for a solid object, a concrete block, boxes of computer paper, a stone bathtub, anything that will halt the downward motion of the ceiling. You then lay on the floor close to that solid object and you will at least have a couple of feet of safe space.
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