The tsunami which battered Aceh at the end of 2004 was the worst natural disaster in the history of the land. In plain view it looked like takdir, a God-predestined event, adding to the suffering already brought on Aceh by mans own deeds and behavior in the prolonged violence. Aceh is a portrait of both man-made and God-made disasters.

Something extraordinary happened after the calamity. Aceh, already i