Indonesia Disasters Death Toll at 370, Most of Missing Thought To Be Dead

Disaster management officials in Indonesia say the death toll from this week’s tsunami has risen to 370.

Rescue workers said about 340 people are still missing on the remote Mentawai islands since a three-meter high wave struck Monday. Disaster official Ade Edward said they suspect about two-thirds of the missing are probably dead, either swept out to sea or buried in the sand.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the affected areas off Sumatra’s western coast Thursday, as rescue workers carried food, tents and clothing to survivors.

Elsewhere in Indonesia, a volcano that killed 33 people and caused 40,000 people to flee their homes this week began erupting again Thursday, spewing hot gas and ash onto villages.

The European Union has pledged $2 million in aid for the survivors of Indonesia’s latest natural disasters.

European aid chief Kristalina Georgieva said in Brussels Thursday the money will help some 65,000 tsunami survivors in the Mentawais and 22,000 eruption survivors in Yogyakarta and central Java.

She says the funds will help fill “response gaps” by providing food, water, sanitation and emergency telecommunications to victims.

A mass funeral was held in central Java for about 20 of the 33 confirmed victims of Tuesday’s eruption of Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano.

Mount Merapi, whose name means “mountain of fire,” last erupted in 2006, killing two people. A similar eruption in 1994 killed at least 60 people, and a 1930 eruption killed 1,300.

The tsunami struck very quickly Monday after being triggered by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake. But an official with the Indonesian meteorology agency tells VOA that many lives could have been saved if the government had activated a tsunami warning system established after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

That tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people, about half of them in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

The meteorologist told VOA his agency released information almost immediately after the latest earthquake, but local authorities did not use it to sound an alarm.

Indonesia straddles several fault lines that make the vast island chain vulnerable to volcanic and seismic activity.

blogs.voanews.com