NIAS ISLAND, Indonesia -- The flotsam of disaster was everywhere: trash, bricks, splintered wood, household effects, clothes, debris. Buildings by the ocean were mostly leveled. Across the road several structures survived, barely: Only their side walls, perpendicular to the water, still stood. Plastic sheets replaced missing walls.
Known for its idyllic surfing, Indonesia's Nias Island suffered from the Dec. 26 tsunami even before the more devastating earthquake of March 28. The island's losses -- hundreds of dead, thousands of homeless -- were small compared to the casualties on much larger Sumatra Island next door. But the human suffering was the same.
Although governments began publicly competing to promise the most official aid to the tsunami zone, international assistance largely bypassed Nias. The hotels in Sumatra's Medan, a short hop away from devastated Banda Aceh, were full of aid workers from a dozen nations and scores of agencies, public and private. Traffic into Nias' capital of Gunung Sitoli was much less.