Academia
When the ground violently shifts, the words we choose can either steady a community’s collective courage or trigger a devastating humanitarian aftershock of panic.
People are seen on Monday in a makeshift hospital tent outside a damaged hospital, in the aftermath of an earthquake in Nagekeo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). (Reuters/Edgar Su)
While an earthquake is fundamentally a geological event, for those living through it, it quickly becomes a deeply relational one.
Across Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the earth’s tremors are met with distinct local refrains. In Lio, people cry out "kami latu" (we exist). In Manggarai, the call is "ata do o" (we are many humans), while in Sikka, voices rise with "ami noran" (we are still here).
