Nias

Nias (Indonesian: Pulau Nias, Nias language: Tanö Niha) is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

It is located in a chain of islands parallel to the coast that are separated from Sumatra by the Mentawai Strait; Simeulue is located about 140 km northwest, and the Batu Islands are located about 80 km southeast. This chain, which resurfaces in Nusa Tenggara in the mountainous islands of Sumba and Timor, is the forearc of the South Sumatra Basin along the Sunda Trench subduction zone. At Nias the oceanic plate is being obliquely subducted under the Asian Plate at the rapid rate of 52 mm a year (Milsom).

Nias Island lies on latitude 1° 30' north and longitude 97° 98' east. It covers an area of 4, 771 km² which is mostly lowland area of ± 800 m above sea level.

Administration

Nias is the largest of the islands off Sumatra that are part of North Sumatra province. This area consists of 131 islands and Nias Island is the biggest. The population in this area is about 639,675 people (including Ono Niha - the native inhabitant of the Island, Malay, Batak, and Chinese).

Administratively it was a kabupaten (regional government) of the province North Sumatra. In 2003 it was split into two regencies, Kabupaten Nias (Northern Nias) and Kabupaten Nias Selatan (Southern Nias). Telukdalam is the capital of Kabupaten Nias Selatan.

Gunungsitoli is the capital city of Nias and it is the center of administration and business affairs of the regency. There are several travel agencies hotels, public busses and rental cars to support tourism here. There are also some government and private banks available.

Sights

The main tourist/surfing area is Lagundri Bay, close to the town of Teluk Dalam, on the southern tip. Enclosed by the beaches of Lagundri and Sorake, the bay has both left and right-hand breaks. As they wait for waves, surfers can often see sea turtles swimming below.

Nias was part of the famous Hippie trail of the 1960s, particularly travelled by surfers, which lead to Bali. Some claim that the waves at the southern beach of Sorake are better than the ones in Maui. It has been the site of several international surfing competitions in the past, particularly before the 1998 Indonesian Reformation Movement.

Despite the storied history of surfing in Nias, international surfing in Nias has slowed down especially (but not specifically) due to the recent earthquakes ^*.

Culture

Isolated yet worldy, the Nias Island chain has been trading with other cultures, other islands, and even mainland Asia since prehistory. Some historians and archaeologists have cited the local culture as one of the few remaining Megalithic cultures in existence today. While this point of view is hotly debated, there is no doubt that Nias relative geographic isolation has created a unique culture. As a culture of traders, the people of Nias find tourists to be a welcome - and historically familiar - phenomenon.

Nias best known for its remarkable diversity of festivals and celebration. The most well known events are War Dances, performed regularly for tourists, and Stone Jumping, a manhood ritual that sees young men leaping over two meter stone towers to their fate. The music of Nias, performed mostly by women, is noted worldwide for its haunting beauty.

Nias is also a hotspot on the world surfing circuit, and certain times of the year will see the beaches filled with Westerners seeking 6meter thrill rides.

Gunung Sitoli is home to Nias' only museum, the Museum Pusaka Nias, which houses over 6000 objects related to Nias' cultural heritage. The museum had recently built a new building and had improved their storage and exhibitions when the 2004 earthquake and tsunami occurred. The museum suffered some damage to the grounds and collections ^*, but museum staff are working to recover from this devastating event.

The predominant religion is Protestant Christianity, Six out of seven Niasans are Protestant; the remainder are about evenly divided between Muslim (mostly immigrants from elsewhere in Indonesia) and Catholic. However adherence to either Christian or Muslim religions is still largely symbolic; Nias continues into current day celebrating its own indigenous culture and traditions as the primary form of spiritual expression.

The 1,000 rupiah Indonesian bank note in the 1990s featured a Nias stone-jumper performing the traditional activity of jumping a stone wall.

Nias is home not only to a unique human culture but also endemic fauna which differ from other areas of North Sumatra because of the island's remote location separate from Sumatra.

Transportation

To reach Nias, there is a weekly ship from Jakarta to Gunung Sitoli; there were ferries from Sibolga to Gunung Sitoli, Teluk Dalam, or Lahewa every day; before the crisis hit Indonesia, there was a daily flight from Medan to Gunung Sitoli, however it is less frequent nowadays.

Since the 1998 Reformation, however, transport links on and to the island have become poor. Internally, the road system is in a very bad condition. Externally the air and ferry links are unreliable. There are two ferry terminals (Gunung Sitoli and Teluk Dalam) and an airport (Binaka, near G. Sitoli ^*) on the island, serviced mainly from Sibolga and Medan respectively. However, local ferry companies regularly go out of business (or their boats sink), so only one terminal may be active at any given time. Commercial air travel is equally unreliable.

Tsunami and earthquakes of 2004 and 2005

On December 26, 2004 the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck a few kilometers north of the island, creating tsunamis as high as 10 meters. 122 people were killed and hundreds more rendered homeless.

On March 28, 2005, the island was again hit by the 2005 Sumatran earthquake, initially presumed to be an aftershock following the 2004 quake, but now regarded as the second-most powerful earthquake in the world since 1965 and twelfth-most powerful ever recorded. At least 800 people are reported dead, with the possibility of more than 2,000 casualties. Hundreds of buildings have toppled, and many thousands have been made homeless.

External links

Nias Island Website
Yaahowu Website
Nias Info on SurfingSumatra
artyfakt research site
John Milsom, "Seismology and Neotectonics" in Geology of Sumatra, Geological Society Memoir no. 27

Nias humanitarian associations and foundations:

Islands of Indonesia