March 28th marked the 2nd anniversary of the mega quake that devastated Nias and Dr Fasa just called with some amazing news. It seems that a Catholic charity group learned about the plight of Siraha village from our web-blog story "Saved by the Windship" (April 2006)

............."The March 28 quake dropped a 150m wide section of the village (Dusun Siraha) straight down at least 50m. Most of the trees are still standing but they are all skewed at crazy angles. A few houses lie almost intact but 7 were swallowed by the earth and there is no sign of them.

Miraculously only 2 people died and they described their descent as slow enough for them to run to hang onto trees as the earth buckled and fractured all around. The visual impact is difficult to capture with a camera. The rift subsidence extends several kilometers to the east and then curves past the village to the west.

Sheer walls of gravel and clay overlook the jumbled landscape that has dropped vertically without any sign of a land slide or horizontal displacement. An unforgettable sight and one this community must now live with and reconcile with their future".........


The story of our helicopter medivac of critically ill Hulu Hukkubah and the extraordinary damage suffered by this small community inspired Charitas to raise funds for a long term project that involves re-building all the houses destroyed in the quake, a new 9km road & 2 huge bridges.

To grasp the enormity of this task is just not possible unless you have trekked up through the mountains and ravines to reach this mountain top community. We will monitor and report on progress. The Caritas head quarters have been established next to Dr Fasa's clinic in Gomo township and he will send us images regularly.