The wrath of nature came without warning as midnight approached last October 25. Without mercy, more than 20-meter-high waves rolled in from the ocean following an earthquake, attacking villages on the shores of the Mentawai Islands of West Sumatra. There was little hope for the residents to save themselves. Death was difficult to escape. When the onslaught was over, 510 people were reported dead, 54 missing, and hundreds of homes reduced to rubble