A 30 minute walk up the forested hill, amid a scattered plot of rubber plants, farmer Martianus Telaumbauna, 36, lives inside a makeshift wooden 'house' outside his quake-ruined home.

"I can't stand living in a tent so I had to build this home by myself," said Telaumbauna.

Nias bore the brunt of the March 28, 2005 quake that killed some 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

The quake also destroyed ports, bridges and roads. For example, Tuhemberuwa lies just 35 km (22 miles) from the island's main town of Gunungsitoli, but takes about two hours to reach by car because of bad roads and makeshift bridges.

Even before the quake, this tropical island lacked infrastructure due to its isolated location.

"The poverty issue is embedded in the island. Nias had long been left behind in terms of development," said William Syahbandar, who heads the Nias development project at the BRR, the agency in charge of rebuilding Nias and neighbouring Aceh province, devastated by the tsunami that struck in December 2004.

For Syahbandar the tragedy offers a real chance for Jakarta to finally give extra attention to Nias.

"The cost of the damage is at US$400 million but the cost of the recovery will be at US$1 billion, that's because we are aiming to improve the infrastructure beyond what was damaged," Syahbandar said.

Lined with white sandy beaches, the island saw an increasing number of Western tourists in the 90's, but the figure plummeted in recent years on security concerns in Indonesia as a whole.

Nearby Aceh was subject to a simmering separatist rebellion while elsewhere bomb blasts blamed on Islamic militants made Indonesia off limits for many timorous travellers.

Gunungsitoli now bustles with trucks and construction vehicles on newly paved roads and brightly painted bridges, but electricity and telecommunications remain rare in the interior, where most of the 5,100 people living in tents are located.

LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE

Since its inception last year, BRR through the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and International Organisation for Migration has built 1,448 houses.

But that is less than five percent of the 37,000 houses destroyed or severely damaged by the quake. The BRR says progress has been severely hampered by logistical difficulties.

"Unlike in Aceh, we need to provide every single material down from the stones, cement and everything else ... and a lot of times they are stuck because there are not enough ships coming here," said Yunus Situmorang, who heads reconstruction and logistical support in Nias.

Still, many living in tents are angry and frustrated.

Faonasokhi Laia, 34, a former rickshaw driver still living in a tent in Gunungsitoli, said he opposed a plan to move him to a temporary shelter area because the new location was too far from town where he works.

"I am a rickshaw driver. How can I get a job there?" said Laia, who lost his house and his own rickshaw in the quake.

In Tuhemberuwa, the inconsistencies of aid are apparent.

Niada, the mother of seven, is excited about the house being built by an aid agency next to her plastic tent. But for farmer Martianus, his hopes are fading.