WHEN the Gunung Sitoli harbor was shaken by the earthquake, Johannes Haemmerle, a German missionary who loves Nias, went around the island holding a wooden sign saying “Tanö Niha, Banua Somasido”; God loves Nias, Nias will not sink.

At that time it was rumored that Nias was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean because of the earthquake. Some of the people rushed out to leave the island, but many decided to say. “Nias is my hometown,�