Indonesia’s Mount Merapi spewed heat clouds and ash yesterday as the country struggled to care for some 65,000 people displaced by the volcano and a deadly tsunami.
Searing gray fumes and ash shot high into the sky and rolled down the slopes of the 2,914m mountain, Indonesia’s most active volcano, spreading fear and panic among nearby residents in central Java.
Merapi, a sacred landmark in Javanese culture whose name translates as “Mountain of Fire,” has convulsed regularly since last Tuesday’s major eruptions, driving up to 50,000 people into temporary shelters.
“There’ll be more eruptions as not all the energy has been released. Eruptions will continue to take place in the weeks ahead,” vulcanologist Surono said.
About 1,300km to the west, officials said aid was slowly reaching survivors of a tsunami which crushed coastal villages on the Mentawai island chain off the coast of Sumatra last Monday.
The latest official death toll stood at 431 with another 88 missing, feared dead, and almost 15,000 made homeless.
Emergency response officials denied reports that aid is rotting in ports as desperate survivors scavenge for wild roots a week after the disaster, which struck in an area that scientists have long warned is vulnerable to tsunamis.
“The delays were due to unfriendly weather, but now we can reach the affected areas and aid is being sent, although it’s limited,” an official named Joskamatir said.
UNTRUE REPORTS
He dismissed reports of looting, poor coordination of the relief effort and food going bad on the docks as “untrue.”
The 3m wave was triggered by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake and flattened around 10 villages, destroying schools, mosques and traditional homes along remote and undeveloped beaches popular with foreign surfers.
Survivors have complained that aid has been too slow to reach them and relief workers have said coordination has been poor.
On Saturday, five days after the disaster, one villager said he had been surviving on wild taro roots because aid still had not reached his devastated village, where he said about half the population had been killed.
“They’re just surviving on yams and bananas and have dug wells to get fresh water. They also drink water from the rivers. Some are falling ill with flu, fevers and coughs,” Demas Sakerebau, a village chief from North Pagai island, said yesterday.
He said aid had reached one hamlet for the first time only on Sunday and described relief packages being dropped by helicopters into the sea, flooded rice paddies and trees.
Officials admit that only a -fraction of supplies such as food, water, tents, medicine and blankets that have reached nearby ports have been distributed to survivors, citing bad weather and a lack of boats and helicopters.
“We understand that there’s been bad weather, that’s a serious challenge, but this should have been predicted earlier,” said Khalid Saifullah, a coordinator for independent local aid agencies.
SLOW AID
Tonnes of aid have been piling up at the Sumatran port of Padang, half a day’s voyage away by sea from the worst-hit islands and at unaffected towns on the Mentawais such as Sikakap and Tua Pejat.
Australia and the US have pledged aid worth a total of US$3 million dollars while the European Commission released 1.5 million euros (US$2 million) for victims of both disasters.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited tsunami survivors on Thursday and said the “only long-term solution” was for people to move away from the most vulnerable coastal areas.
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