THE mosque built in 1832 now leans at a precarious angle, almost at the point of collapse. It is as if Raden Dee Gaos, the director of the ancient mosque in Manonjaya, Tasikmalaya, West Java, cannot really believe what has happened. An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale shook it to its foundations on Wednesday afternoon last week.

The tectonic quake 30 kilometers beneath the sea, 134 kilometers southwest of Tasikmalaya, with its epice