Indonesia disaster death toll rises

Oct 27 2010

A volcanic eruption and a tsunami have killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia - reactions from the Pacific "Ring of Fire" which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth.

The eruption of Mount Merapi on Tuesday killed at least 25 people, forced thousands to flee down its slopes and spewed burning ash and smoke high into the air on the island of Java.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Sumatra, about 800 miles west of the volcano, rescuers battled rough seas to reach the remote Mentawai islands, where a 10ft tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept away hundreds of homes, killing at least 113 villagers, said the health ministry's crisis centre. Up to 500 others are missing.

The twin disasters happened hours apart in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet.

Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Merapi's lava dome could trigger its most powerful explosion in years. But Gede Swantika, a government volcanologist, expressed hope the 9,737ft mountain, which sent rocks and debris cascading down its southern slope, could be releasing steam slowly.

Endita Sri Andiyanti, a spokeswoman at the main hospital dealing with victims, counted 25 bodies and said more than a dozen others were admitted with injuries.

Even as they contended with the volcano - one of 129 to watch in the world's largest archipelago - officials were trying to assess the impact of Monday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra that triggered the killer tsunami.

The quake, just 13 miles beneath the ocean floor, was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, according to the US Geological Survey. The fault also caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

After Monday's quake and tsunami, many panicked residents fled to high ground and were too afraid to return home.

With few relief workers able to get to the hardest-hit islands - reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride - fishermen searched for the living and dead. Corpses lay unburied because there was not enough outside help to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja.