While preparing a blog entry on our recent travel to Bali for the South East Asian Survey Congress, we were saddened to learn of the 7.0 earthquake that rocked the nearby island of Java. Compounding the damage caused by the quake itself are results of the massive landslide it triggered. News reports state that more than 8,000 homes, schools, businesses, and mosques have been damaged in the landslide. Dozens of people have been killed with the toll rising as recovery efforts carry on.

So many of the themes discussed in Bali pertain to just these situations—the role of geospatial data for disaster management; concerns over remote sensing access, usage, and dissemination; the need to extract knowledge from geospatial data. But these discussions are best left for another day. Today, we offer our deepest sympathy to those who have lost so much. Our thoughts are with you.