The toll from a tsunami that smashed into Indonesia rose sharply past 270 yesterday as rescuers reached the remote islands hit hardest by the disaster and found scenes of devastation.
At least 10 villages were flattened when the tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.7 offshore earthquake pounded the Mentawai islands late on Monday off the west coast of Sumatra.
“We’ve recovered 272 bodies. At least 412 people are still missing,” West Sumatra provincial disaster management official Ade Edward said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Survivors said they had no warning that the 3m wave was bearing down on the Mentawais, a popular destination for foreign surfers, but otherwise a poor and neglected outpost in the vast Indonesian archipelago.
Borinte, 32, a farmer from Detumonga village on the coast of North Pagai island, said he managed to stay alive by clasping to a piece of wood. His wife and three children were killed.
“About 10 minutes after the quake we heard a loud, thunderous sound. We went outside and saw the wave coming. We tried to run away to higher ground, but the wave was much quicker than us,” he said.
The first images from the scene of the disaster, broadcast late yesterday on Indonesian television, showed shell-shocked villagers picking through the sodden ruins of their homes.
Several hundred kilometers away on Java, another 29 people were killed when the country’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted on Tuesday, spewing searing clouds of gas and lava into the sky.
Officials said almost 42,000 people had fled to temporary shelters around the nearby city of Yogyakarta, but there were fears for the fate of thousands more who had refused to budge.
The US and several of Indonesia’s neighbors pledged help for a nation which often finds itself battling calamity, although Jakarta said it did not see a need for foreign assistance.
Several Australian tourists were caught in the tsunami while on a surfing holiday.
One group survived after their boat was picked up by the wave and slammed into another, creating an explosion. Another group of nine surfers was found alive after being reported missing.
The tsunami surged as far as 600m inland on South Pagai island, officials said. On North Pagai, a resort and almost 200 houses were flattened.
Medical personnel flew in on helicopters, but rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather and poor communications to the islands, which are about half a day’s ferry ride away from the port of Padang on Sumatra.
Troops and naval personnel were also dispatched to the area.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cut short a visit to Vietnam for a summit of Southeast Asian leaders and was on his way to the Mentawais, which he should reach today, officials said.
US President Barack Obama, who lived in Indonesia as a boy and is due to return there on an Asian tour next month, voiced his sadness over the deaths and pledged US help.
“As a friend of Indonesia, the United States stands ready to help in any way,” he said.
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