Nias is very prone to earthquakes so over the years, local people developed earthquake resistant houses. The village of Tumori is 30 minutes from the Medair office and there are several there. And on the road that we take from Gunung Sitoli, we have found 9 such houses. They are built on wooden supports without foundations. The stilts and cross beams rest on rocks. So when the earth moves, the house is meant to float over the ground. The high roof is meant to absorb the stresses in the structure. Nias is heavily forested so wood is available and the roof is covered with palm leaves. The houses are typically over 100 years old so they have survived some major earthquakes in their time.
These are in Tumori
These on the road to Tuhemberua- most are still lived in, although the one below belongs to a museum in Gunung Sitoli
Old and new - this house is in Gunung Sitoli with its idol in the front garden (there is traditional veneration of ancestors) and a satellite TV dish behind.
Arjan Buitenhuis is with me for 4 weeks, his job to build 2 clinical waste incinerators. He is an industrial designer by training so the first thing he did was to build a scale model
Last week I went to Teluc Dalam in the south of Nias and the administrative centre of Nias Selatan of South Nias. You have to cross some interesting bridges !
This was taken from one of the bridges
But there are some lovely parts of the coast line.
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