Opinion seems to differ whether the Indonesian Government is doing a good job handling the aftermath of the earthquake at Yogjakarta.

Many media are reporting about failures to deliver food, medicines, medical attention and shelter in a timely manner, and deaths resulting from these failures. They have also reported about criticisms about the slowness and lack of coordination.

Others on the scene, such as Campbell Webb who wrote to the jakarta Post today, differ. They say that things are actually relatively well organized and the local response has been good.

So who to believe? The picture that some observers have come to perceive is that the Government is handling the situation quite well, compared to Aceh and other disasters. But a quake of this magnitude is messy. Many people have died and will continue to die; aid will be slow in coming to some areas because of the disruption of infrastructure and  their remoteness; there will be some level of disorganization. That's the way things are.

 The media and some critics, however, expect everything to snap into place, all lives to be saved the disaster turned around almost instantaneously, otherwise things couldn't be going right. That's unrealistic and unfair to the government and other workers who are doing a decent job, compared to the past.