Deadly Earthquake, Tsunami & Volcano Hit Indonesia

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Rescuers struggled Wednesday (October 27) to reach victims of Indonesia's earthquake, tsunami and volcano in two separate locations, where at least 113 people drowned along Sumatra island's coastal fault-line, while 18 more perished on central Java island from spewing Mount Marapi.

"We have 200 body bags on the way, just in case," said Mujiharto, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center, referring to the isolated Mentawai isles which suffered the twin punches of a 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake on Monday (October 25) night, followed by a localized 10-foot-high tsunami.

Corpses were strewn along some beaches because there were not enough grave diggers, the Associated Press reported.

The tsunami's powerful onslaught of churning sea water and fast-floating debris caused many of the casualties, washing away buildings and drowning victims who survived the tremblor.

The Mentawai isles are usually accessible by a ferries and speed boats from the southern coast of much-larger Sumatra island, hampering the quick arrival of emergency crews, relief supplies and equipment.

Huge, well-formed curling waves from the Indian Ocean make the Mentawai isles an international surfers' paradise, trimmed by dazzling white-sand beaches and Wi-Fi enabled holiday resorts.

Upmarket surfers can also stay at a resort which claims one of the tiny islands as its exclusive domain.

Waves swept a chartered surfing vessel into another boat, forcing a group of Australians to leap into the water, clinging to anything which could float.

"Fortunately, most of us had something to hold on to ... and we just washed into the wetlands, and scrambled up the highest trees that we could possibly find," Rick Hallet told Australia's Nine Network.

There were no immediate reports of any foreigners killed or injured by the quake and tsunami, or from the volcano on neighboring Sumatra island.

"A significant tsunami was generated by this earthquake," said the U.S. Commerce Department's Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

"Sea level readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most areas," it said.

The tsunami destroyed rustic houses made of wood and bamboo on Pagai island, inundating roads and farms 600 yards inland, officials said.

The tsunami was less severe than the one which wiped out much of Sumatra's northern Aceh region in December 2004, killing 230,000 people in a dozen coastal countries in Asia and Africa after an underwater earthquake.

Monday's quake was 13 miles under the ocean floor when it hit at 9:42 PM local time at the epicenter, followed by at least 14 aftershocks, including one which hit 6.2, according to the U.S. Interior Department's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Residents in the nearby Southeast Asian island nation of Singapore felt the quake, the USGS said.

The quake and tsunami site is 500 miles northwest from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, which is on neighboring Java island.

It is also 800 miles from the volcano, forcing emergency services to simultaneously grapple with victims in two locations on Indonesia's string of 17,500 islands.

Mount Merapi, one of the country's most volatile volcanoes, began loudly erupting on Tuesday (October 26) evening, hurling rocks, hot ash and burning debris from its jagged, smoke-shrouded peak.

Desperate rescuers said they uncovered 17 burnt bodies from houses about two miles from the cone's crest, and said a two-month-old baby boy choked to death on sulphurous, ash-laden fumes elsewhere, after the volcano belched at least three times, according to local media and officials.

Mount Merapi, or "Mountain of Fire," rises above Kaliadem town, near the city of Yogyakarta in a central southern region of Java island, 500 miles southeast of Jakarta, which is linked to the stricken area by relatively modern overland, air and sea routes.

Volcano experts were concerned about more possible eruptions, which could disrupt domestic and international passenger and commercial flights over the zone near the Equator, about equal distance between Singapore and northwest Australia.

Many who fled wore white cloth masks over their mouths, to block the choking smoke from entering their lungs, as they rushed to shelters on flat land away from the steep volcano.

Ash-covered, grim-faced adults carried children in their arms, while others clutched whatever merge belongings they could carry.

Others were too worried about leaving valuable cattle and crops unattended, despite the danger.

Rescuers guided them to makeshift sleeping areas, and arranged vehicles to move burnt and coughing victims further away.

"Approximately 40,000 people live in the vicinity of the 2,914-meter (9,560-foot) mountain," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

"Everybody, including the military and police, is ready to carry out an evacuation and secure the areas," Priyadi Kardono, an Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency spokesman told UN officials on Tuesday (October 26).

"Volcanologists put areas within a 10-km (six-mile) radius on red alert, after Merapi showed increased activity, spewing lava down its southern slopes," the UN office reported.

The Indonesian Red Cross and other agencies handed out thousands of protective cloth face masks, plus blankets, plastic sheets and tents to build shelters.

Merapi has turned vicious in the past, when the volcano killed two people in 2006, and 66 in 1994.

Its deadliest recorded eruption killed 1,370 people in 1930, the U.N. said.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, and the longest archipelago on earth.

It is part of the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire, where volcanic activity and earthquakes are relatively frequent.

The Ring of Fire's fault lines include New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Alaska's Aleutian Islands, western Canada, California, Central America and Chile.

Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist who has reported news from Asia since 1978. He is co-author of "Hello My Big Big Honey!", a non-fiction book of investigative journalism. His web page is
http://www.asia-correspondent.110mb.com

(Copyright 2010 Richard S Ehrlich)

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