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Indonesian soldiers evacuate villagers from their homes following
another eruption of Mount Merapi in Cangkringan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Photo/Slamet Riyadi)
Indonesian
Volcano Erupts Powerfully; Quake Hits
Published November 03, 2010
Associated Press
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia-- Indonesia's deadly volcano erupted Wednesday with its biggest blast yet, shooting
searing ash miles into the sky and forcing the hasty evacuations of panicked villagers and emergency shelters near
the base.
Soldiers loaded men, women and crying children into trucks as rocks and debris hurled in the air and down the mountain's
slopes. No new casualties were reported immediately after the booming explosion that lasted more than an hour.
Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated from Mount Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes in the world,
since it began erupting just over a week ago, killing 38 people, most from severe burns.
The danger zone was widened Wednesday from six miles from the glowing crater to 9 miles because of the heightened
threat.
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Oct. 31, 2010
Motorists ride as pyroclastic material from the eruption of Mount Merapi
billows in the background in Cangkringan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia,
. A deadly volcano in Indonesia spewed searing cloud of ash down its slopes Sunday,
prompting panic and chaos among thousands of villagers who had taken advantage
of a lull in activity to rush home and check on their livestock. (AP Photo / Trisnadi)
Merapi volcano erupts again
AP
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia -- Thousands of evacuees who risked a trip home near a deadly Indonesian volcano fled in
panic as the mountain spewed more searing ash clouds Sunday, while rescuers finally resumed aid to tsunami victims
in the country's other unfolding disaster.
The number of people killed in the twin catastrophes climbed to almost 500 on Sunday, as dozens more bodies were
found in the tsunami-ravaged Mentawai islands.
Indonesia, a vast island nation of 235 million people, is prone to earthquakes and eruptions because it straddles
a series of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire."
Warning sirens blared, and people sprinted down the slopes of Mount Merapi or sped off in cars and trucks while
others who had returned amid a brief lull to check on their livestock jumped into rivers hoping to protect themselves
when the volcano erupted, local disaster official Rusdiyanto said.
No new casualties were immediately reported in the latest blast, which sent massive clouds of ash down the less-populated
southern and eastern slopes, an official said. The volcano has killed 38 people since it began erupting Tuesday.
Authorities have been frustrated that many of the more than 53,000 evacuated since the eruptions began Tuesday
keep going back during the daylight hours, ignoring warnings of the danger. More than 2,000 troops had to be called
in Saturday to force men, women and children to leave.
Residents of the once-fertile slopes of Merapi - which means Fire Mountain - say they're just trying to salvage
something of their lives.
The 46-minute eruption Sunday shot dust about a mile (two kilometers) into the air and a cloud of hot ash a half
mile (a kilometer) down Merapi's eastern and southern slopes, said Surono, chief of the Center for Volcanology
and Geological Hazard Mitigation.
"There should be no casualties from the new eruption because the flow of hot ash is lower and far from populated
areas," Surono said.
The airport in the city of Solo, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Merapi, was forced to close Sunday for at least
an hour due to volcanic dust that fell like rain, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the transportation ministry.
He said the facility would reopen later Sunday night.
National airline Garuda Indonesia also rerouted flights from the airport at Yogyakarta indefinitely out of concerns
volcanic dust from Merapi, 18 miles (30 kilometers) to the north, would damage plane engines, airline spokesman
Pujobroto said.
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MSNBC
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Tsunami
msnbc.com news services
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TSUNAMI BABY FOUND ALIVE
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Death toll from tsunami,
eruption surpasses 400; hundreds more missing
msnbc.com news services
10/29/2010 4:11:46 AM
MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia — The fisherman was jolted awake by the powerful earthquake and ran with his screaming
neighbors to high ground. He said they watched as the sea first receded and then came roaring back "like a
big wall" that swept away their entire village.
"Suddenly trees, houses and all things in the village were sucked into the sea and nothing was left,"
Joni Sageru recalled Thursday in one of the first survivor accounts of this week's tsunami that slammed into islands
off western Indonesia.
The death toll rose to 370 as officials found more bodies, although hundreds of people remained missing. Harmensyah,
head of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management center, said rescue teams "believe many, many of the
bodies were swept to sea."
Along with the 33 people killed by a volcano that erupted Tuesday more than 800 miles to the east in central Java,
the number of dead from the twin disasters has now topped 400. Mount Merapi began rumbling again Thursday after
a lull that allowed mourners to hold a mass burial for its victims. There were no reports of new injuries or damage.
The catastrophes struck within 24 hours in different parts of the seismically active country, severely testing
Indonesia's emergency response network.
Aid workers trickling into the remote region found giant chunks of coral and rocks in places where homes once stood.
Huge swaths of land were submerged. Swollen corpses dotted roads and beaches.
In a rare bright spot, an 18-month-old baby was found alive Wednesday in a clump of trees on Pagai Selatan — the
same island where the 30-year-old Sageru lived. Relief coordinator Harmensyah said a 10-year-old boy found the
toddler whose parents are both dead
More than 100 survivors crowded a makeshift medical center in the main town of Sikakap on Pagai Utara — one of
the four main islands in the Mentawai chain located between Sumatra and the Indian Ocean.
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.Some still wept for lost loved ones as they lay on straw mats or sat on the floor, waiting for medics to treat
injuries such as cuts and broken limbs. Outside, some rescuers wore face masks as they wrapped corpses in black
body bags.
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In pictures: Mt Merapi erupts
BBC: October27, 2010
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Mount
Merapi releases lava for the first time
since its latest round of activity began earlier this week.
(CNN)
-- Indonesia's Mount Merapi has erupted again in a major blast that sent people into the streets.
Indonesian volcano erupts again
By
the CNN Wire Staff
October 29, 2010
The latest eruption was one of several that spewed hot ash clouds and lava into the sky. At least six eruptions
on Friday prompted officials to warn residents to be on high alert and stay away from the volcano.
On Friday morning, one eruption sent a massive plume above the mountaintop, extreme weather chaser James Reynolds
said. Ash drifted to the south after the eruption about 10 a.m. local time, Reynolds said. The plume was about
1,500 meters (4,921 feet) high.
Residents started streaming down the mountain, heading for safer ground. Some were being evacuated after returning
home following eruptions earlier in the week, said observers from the Volcanology Agency near Merapi.
Those living within a radius of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of Merapi may have to be relocated, said a police official
in the major city of Yogyakarta.
The volcano killed at least 36 people when it exploded earlier this week, medical officials said.
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Indonesia tsunami relief slowed by bad weather
BBC, 29 October 2010
Bad weather is again obstructing efforts to get aid to the survivors of Monday's tsunami in Indonesia.
Heavy rain and high tides are making it hard for boats to deliver supplies to the isolated Mentawai islands off
the west coast of Sumatra.
More than 400 people are confirmed dead, but many bodies have yet to be recovered from coastal areas and more than
300 people are still missing.
The tsunami was triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake.
Disaster-relief officials plan to start dropping aid by air, but reports say there are not enough helicopters to
reach many of the devastated areas.
Struggling with devastation
The government has pledged millions of dollars for the relief effort, but aid agencies said people on the islands
still urgently need food and shelter.
Meanwhile, an Indonesian government official has told the BBC the earthquake was so close to land that the early
warning system in the area did not have a chance to send out an alert before the giant waves broke.
The epicentre was 80km from the Mentawai islands.
The government is now planning to install new earthquake detection equipment, said Kusuma Habir from the foreign
ministry.
Disaster official Ade Edward says the 3m (10ft) surge is likely to have carried many of the missing out to sea,
or buried them in the sand.
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Whole villages were wiped out by the tsunami
No alert' in Indonesian tsunami
BBC, 27 October 2010
A crucial link in Indonesia's tsunami warning system was not working during Monday's tsunami because it had
been vandalised, says an Indonesian official.
Hundreds of people were killed and many are missing as a result of the tsunami, which was generated by a magnitude
7.7 earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra.
The earthquake unleashed a 3m-high (10ft) wave that crashed into the remote Mentawai islands, levelling a number
of villages.
Survivors have said no warning was given.
Ridwan Jamaluddin, of the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, told the BBC's Indonesian
service that two buoys off the Mentawai islands were vandalised and so out of service.
"We don't say they are broken down but they were vandalised and the equipment is very expensive. It cost us
five billion rupiah each (£353,000; $560,000).
Another official, from the Indonesian Climatology Agency told the BBC's Indonesian service that both tide gauges
and buoys are used to detect a tsunami, but the buoys are more important to generating an early warning.
"To predict a tsunami, we need the data from the buoy and the tide gauge, which is located near the beach.
The buoy is more important because it is on the sea, so it will record the wave much quicker that the tide gauge,"
said the official, named Fauzi.
Difficulties
Residents of the Mentawai islands have told the BBC they heard no tsunami warning.
"There was not any siren to warn people in Sikakap [a small town on North Pagai island]," said Ferdinand
Salamanang.
"Yes there was a quake and tsunami detection system in our port, but they are broken down. We did not hear
any warning this time."
Almost exactly two years ago Indonesia launched its new tsunami early warning centre, designed to give people in
coastal areas enough time to escape any waves before they reach land.
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Indonesia
battles disasters on two fronts
AFP, 29 October 2010
Indonesia struggled with twin disasters Saturday as the death toll from a tsunami topped 400 and the archipelago's
most active volcano erupted again, spreading panic and ash over a vast area. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Indonesian search and rescue members encourage people to leave the danger zone Enlarge
photo Indonesian search and rescue members encourage people to leave the danger zone Enlarge photo Mount Merapi
volcano emits hot clouds of lava and volcanic ash Enlarge photo Indonesia tsunami and volcano Enlarge photo VIDEO:
Indonesia battles to aid tsunami survivors as toll tops 400. Enlarge photo
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Related Hot Topic: Volcano
Have your say: Volcano
Rescuers were battling bad weather and logistical challenges to deliver aid to remote islands off the coast of
Sumatra where a major earthquake triggered a tsunami on Monday, wiping out entire villages and killing at least
408 people.
Hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the east on Java island, the Mount Merapi volcano thundered back to life around
1:00 am (1800 GMT) in the latest frightening explosion since an eruption killed 34 people on Tuesday.
The two disasters have displaced more than 60,000 people -- 13,000 on the tsunami-stricken Mentawai islands and
around 50,000 in central Java where a 10-kilometre (six mile) exclusion zone has been set up around the volcano.
Aid workers said the tsunami wiped out at least 10 villages, mainly along the ocean-facing beaches of North and
South Pagai islands, and officials fear the final toll could exceed 600.
Aid had started to be dropped from helicopters on Friday, but aviation fuel shortages, stormy weather and poor
communications on the largely undeveloped Mentawais were hampering the relief effort.
"We've started sending relief supplies, which are still limited but enough for the people to survive,"
national search and rescue spokesman Gagah Prakoso said.
Many victims were sucked out to sea as the tsunami receded and have already been buried by their loved ones. Others
remain unclaimed under fallen trees or rotting in piles of mangled debris.
Survivors in a village reached by an AFP photographer said as many as 30 of the community's 100 children had been
killed. One man complained they still had not received any assistance from the government.
"The relief from the government is very late. We still haven't received anything," he said.
The wall of water was around three metres (10 feet) high and roared into the little coastal communities without
warning, smashing schools, mosques and flimsy traditional houses up to 500 metres inland.
Dave Jenkins of independent health agency SurfAid International, which is based in the Mentawais, said bad weather
was making a "severely challenging situation... a lot worse".
"We need to keep people alive, warm and fed, and fight disease outbreaks. After that we can move into the
reconstruction phase," he said.
"It's challenging and people need to coordinate much better."
The latest official death toll from the tsunami, triggered by a 7.7-magnitude quake, stood at 408, with 303 still
listed as missing. Officials said as many as 200 of the missing were not expected to be found alive.
In central Java, soldiers and police posted nearest the volcano fled Saturday morning's eruption along with hundreds
of ordinary people, who quickly clogged roads with cars and motorcycles as black soot fell across a vast area.
"My neighbours told me to leave and my village is already empty -- everyone has fled," said 42-year-old
resident Mukinem, who was heading away from the volcano on a motorcycle with her husband and two young children.
"I heard several sounds like thunder. I was so scared I was shaking."
Government volcanologist Subandrio said the new eruption was another reminder that 2,914-metre Mount Merapi, which
means "Mountain of Fire", remained "extremely dangerous".
He said the government had to be "more serious" about enforcing the exclusion zone amid persistent reports
of people leaving displacement camps to tend to their livestock on the mountain's slopes.
"We will even have to evaluate whether we need to widen the exclusion zone because we should not downplay
the threat -- Mount Merapi is extremely dangerous," he said.
Australia has announced assistance of about one million US dollars while the European Commission released 1.5 million
euros (two million dollars) in aid.
"Indonesia is currently addressing a multitude of emergencies, whose cumulative impact is putting local capacity
under severe strain," European aid chief Kristalina Georgieva said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations stood ready to assist. The United States and several Asian
countries have also offered help.
The Indonesian archipelago is studded with scores of active volcanoes and stretches from the Pacific to the Indian
oceans, spanning several tectonic plates.
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2009 SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE IN PHOTOS
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Sumatra quake
'levelled villages'
BBC, 3 October 2009
Thousands of people may have died in remote village areas when a powerful
earthquake struck Sumatra last week, emergency workers and officials fear.
Some villages were completely destroyed in landslides, with access roads torn apart by the quake preventing medical
teams reaching the injured.
Aid is now arriving in Indonesia, but hopes are fading of finding survivors in the worst-hit city of Padang.
More than 1,000 people have died in the city. About 3,000 others are missing.
Australian, British, Japanese and South Korean rescuers have arrived in Indonesia and the EU and Russia are also
sending help.
But while rescue efforts are still concentrated in Padang, there are serious concerns that it may be too late to
save most of those missing, presumed trapped beneath the city's collapsed concrete buildings.
Instead the focus is shifting to emerging stories of widespread destruction in areas outside the city.
At least 600 people are believed to be missing in villages north of Padang.
"All the houses seem to have been swallowed by earth," a health ministry official in the village of Pulau
Aik told the Associated Press.
Villagers contacted by reporters told of hundreds of people missing in each settlement.
"In my village, 75 people were buried. There are about 300 people missing from this whole area. We need tents
and excavators to get the bodies but the roads are cut off," one villager, Ogi Martapela, told Reuters.
One Red Cross worker, Testos, told Reuters his team needed medicines, drinking water and clothes to take to those
left homeless by the quake.
But access to these areas remains difficult, and few details are known yet of the extent of the destruction or
the loss of life.
Local TV stations have begun to reach some of the affected areas, broadcasting images of villages reduced to rubble
and tales of villagers without access to clean water.
"We have not received a thing. We need food, clothes, blankets, milk. It seems like the government has forgotten
about us," Reuters quoted one woman, Siti Armaini, as saying in Pariaman, 40km (25 miles) north of Padang.
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