July 30. We are beside the Masio River on the tourist island of Nias, famed for its beaches and haunting sculptures. It was the early hours. Torrential rains kept pouring down endlessly. There was water everywhere, lit up by lightning and drowned out by thunder. The Telembanua family prepared to sleep through it.

The head of the house, Leliano Telembanua, covered his children with a blanket. Then the 50-year-old lay down beside his wife. He