/ 28 October 2010

Indonesia tsunami death toll nears 350

Indonesia Tsunami Death Toll Nears 350

The death toll from a tsunami that pummelled remote Indonesian islands soared to 343 on Thursday as questions mounted over whether an elaborate warning system had failed.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was heading to the disaster zone, where fears were growing for hundreds still missing after a huge wave triggered by a powerful earthquake on Monday hit the Mentawais off the west coast of Sumatra.

Hundreds of kilometres away, a mass funeral was held for some of the 32 people killed when the nation’s most active volcano erupted on Tuesday.

Disaster response officials said bodies were being found on beaches and coastal areas in the Mentawai island chain, which took the full force of the tsunami as it washed away entire villages.

West Sumatra disaster management official Ferry Faisal said “343 people were killed and 338 are still missing”.

A ship bearing aid including food, water, medical supplies as well as body bags arrived on Thursday at Sikakap, on North Pagai island, one of the two worst-hit islands in the Mentawai group.

An Agence France-Presse photographer on board said hundreds of villagers were being treated at a medical clinic, many requiring stitches to open cuts suffered as they were tossed around in the surging sea.

‘No warning’
Survivors said they had almost no warning that the 3m wall of water was bearing down on them, despite the laying of a sophisticated network of alarm buoys off the Sumatran coast.

The expensive warning system was instituted after the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed at least 168 000 people in Indonesia alone.

An official tsunami warning was issued after Monday’s 7,7-magnitude quake but it either came too late or did not reach the communities in most danger.

One survivor, 32-year-old farmer Borinte, said the wave slammed into his community on North Pagai island minutes after residents had felt the quake.

“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 told AFP on Wednesday.

He said he managed to stay alive by clasping to a piece of wood, but his wife and three children were killed.

Medical personnel were arriving on helicopters but boats bearing aid have been hampered by bad weather around the islands, which are about half-a-day’s journey away from the port of Padang on Sumatra.

Troops and naval personnel have been dispatched to the area. Indonesian western fleet commander Marsetio said at least five warships were on their way. — AFP