THE news that a tsunami had ravaged the Mentawai coast, Monday three weeks ago, sparked Rini Ningrum’s memory. As an NGO activist in disaster risk-reduction, she had once stayed on the island in mid-1988 up to the end of 1989 to conduct research on endemic medicinal plants. “That time no one lived on the coast,” said Rini to Ratih Sukma from Tempo, Thursday last week.

The Siberut tribe in Pagai, the indigenous people of Mentawai, are farm