THE man had no more tears left to cry. He had lost his wife and four of his children. Only his eldest son was safe. In Calang, on the fourth day after the lethal tsunami hit Aceh, Zulfian Ahmad, 54, felt as if he had found himself in a long doomsday. Houses, offices and buildings all became flat ground.

Surviving residents took shelter in the hills and at the edge of the forest. The wind and the waves sounded like a lament for death. All were