Many thousands of miles away, Jerry's sentiments were shared by Gabriel Cruz. He and Rafi Susanto had arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, the previous day, to discover the global financial and banking network didn't exist any more.
Being a billionaire—or rather, having been a billionaire—Cruz was especially sensitive to situations which left him without funds. Susanto, although only a multimillionaire, shared this trait. They were warned they might have difficulty accessing their money by Jared Knight, commander of HMNZS Kahu, the three-masted barque that served as training ship for cadets of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
"All banking records have been wiped out," Knight had told them. "And electronic banking just doesn't exist any more. But there's an upside, gentlemen: all debts, public and private, have been cancelled."
