Indonesia tsunami deaths increase after Sumatra quake
Scores of houses were destroyed by waves after the 7.7 magnitude quake, which struck 20km (13 miles) under the ocean floor near the Mentawai islands.
Ten villages on the islands were swept away by the tsunami, a disaster official told the AFP news agency.
Australian officials are trying to contact a group of missing surfers.
The group of between eight and 10 missing Australians was on a surfing charter boat in the area, which is a popular surfing destination reached only by boat.
Hendri Dori Satoko, a lawmaker in the Mentawai islands, told Metro TV: "Our latest data from crisis centre showed that 108 people have been killed and 502 are still missing."
Health ministry officials said 113 bodies had been recovered in the area so far, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The search and rescue operation is being seriously hampered by bad weather, officials have told the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta.
Heavy rain is preventing helicopters from accessing the area and boats cannot reach the islands either, because the dock on the island of South Pagai has been completely destroyed. Poor communications have also made it hard for officials to gain accurate information, our correspondent adds.
The disaster comes as thousands of people are being evacuated from the area around Mt Merapi in central Java, after the volcano began erupting.
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Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano erupts
“We heard three explosions around 06:00 pm [local time] spewing volcanic material as high as 1.5 kilometres and sending heat clouds down the slopes,” government volcanologist Surono told AFP.
Before the latest eruption people living in the shadow of Indonesia’s most active volcano had been warned to evacuate or risk being killed.
Authorities had put an area 10 kilometres around the crater of Mount Merapi on red alert Monday, ordering 19,000 people to flee.
A three-month-old baby died of breathing difficulties on Tuesday, a doctor told local television, in the first fatality from the eruption.
“This eruption is certainly bigger than the 2006 eruption during which the heat clouds occurred for only seven minutes after the eruption,” Mr. Surono said.
“Today’s eruption released heat clouds of gas and ash down the slopes for about two hours. We cannot tell you how far the searing clouds went down on the slopes because it’s dark.”
Television footage showed thousands of people fleeing Tuesday’s eruptions in panic, some covered in white ash, as officials with loudhailers tried to help them escape the area.
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Latest Earthquakes in the World
| MAG | UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s | LAT deg | LON deg | DEPTH km | Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAP | 2.9 | 2010/10/25 23:30:34 | 18.902 | -64.538 | 7.0 | VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION |
| MAP | 3.4 | 2010/10/25 23:12:56 | 18.913 | -64.517 | 28.0 | VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION |
| MAP | 6.2 | 2010/10/25 22:59:54 | -3.281 | 100.497 | 21.5 | KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA |
| MAP | 4.9 | 2010/10/25 22:10:03 | -2.844 | 99.993 | 19.8 | KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA |
| MAP | 3.2 | 2010/10/25 20:53:11 | 34.755 | -97.837 | 4.9 | OKLAHOMA |
| MAP | 2.8 | 2010/10/25 19:51:08 | 60.809 | -151.385 | 65.7 | KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA |
| MAP | 6.1 | 2010/10/25 19:37:31 | -2.984 | 100.391 | 22.9 | KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA |
| MAP | 2.5 | 2010/10/25 16:49:42 | 58.171 | -151.957 | 0.1 | KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA |
| MAP | 2.5 | 2010/10/25 15:59:09 | 58.163 | -152.241 | 10.9 | KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA |
| MAP | 5.0 | 2010/10/25 15:21:12 | -3.408 | 99.932 | 25.6 | SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA |
| MAP | 3.5 | 2010/10/25 15:10:35 | 56.391 | -152.569 | 0.8 | KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA |
| MAP | 7.7 | 2010/10/25 14:42:23 | -3.484 | 100.114 | 20.6 | KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA |
| MAP | 3.7 | 2010/10/25 13:45:36 | 35.071 | -118.975 | 17.9 | CENTRAL CALIFORNIA |
| MAP | 3.6 | 2010/10/25 12:55:53 | 51.737 | -174.780 | 46.9 | ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA |
| MAP | 5.7 | 2010/10/25 12:05:28 | -0.046 | 125.086 | 26.2 | MOLUCCA SEA |
| MAP | 4.6 | 2010/10/25 10:08:01 | 24.613 | -109.224 | 10.0 | GULF OF CALIFORNIA |
| MAP | 4.8 | 2010/10/25 10:06:15 | 24.627 | -109.191 | 10.0 | GULF OF CALIFORNIA |
| MAP | 2.5 | 2010/10/25 10:01:35 | 18.452 | -65.593 | 46.0 | PUERTO RICO REGION |
| MAP | 3.4 | 2010/10/25 08:25:33 | 19.143 | -64.613 | 69.0 | VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION |
| MAP | 4.9 | 2010/10/25 07:45:21 | -34.924 | -72.564 | 24.6 | OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE |
| MAP | 4.8 | 2010/10/25 07:40:44 | 34.709 | 23.567 | 18.9 | CRETE, GREECE |
| MAP | 4.5 | 2010/10/25 07:28:14 | -6.131 | 113.177 | 577.8 | JAVA, INDONESIA |
| MAP | 3.6 | 2010/10/25 06:48:37 | 31.238 | -115.671 | 6.0 | BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO |
| MAP | 5.3 | 2010/10/25 02:59:13 | 19.339 | 146.392 | 49.4 | MARIANA ISLANDS REGION |
| MAP | 2.7 | 2010/10/25 01:02:07 | 39.219 | -119.716 | 10.8 | NEVADA |
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