Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Earthquake in Yogyakarta and Problems in Timor
I talked to Sam Filiaci this morning. There were 1800 people killed in his town of Klaten. Fortunately he did not lose any employees or family members, but some of the employees did lose family. His spice factory in Klaten had the roof collapse. It happened Saturday before the work day began, so they were lucky no one was there or there would have been fatalities. Friday night Sam had evacuated 22 employees from Timor and put them up in a hotel in Yogya. Then the hotel was destroyed. No one was hurt, but they had to sleep in the parking lot; they are all now at Sam’s house.
As for Timor, the situation has deteriorated further at the worst moment for the coffee farmers. There is no one to buy the cherry; the banks are all closed. As far as the coffee for this year goes, we are looking at another compromised situation at best. We’ll know a lot more in a couple of weeks. Sam’s immediate concern, however, is the Mt. Merapi volcano which is threatening to erupt 15 miles from his house.--- Bob
As for Timor, the situation has deteriorated further at the worst moment for the coffee farmers. There is no one to buy the cherry; the banks are all closed. As far as the coffee for this year goes, we are looking at another compromised situation at best. We’ll know a lot more in a couple of weeks. Sam’s immediate concern, however, is the Mt. Merapi volcano which is threatening to erupt 15 miles from his house.--- Bob
# posted by royal.coffee @ 8:00 AM 
