Indonesian rescue workers and fishermen searched for survivors in the waters west of Sumatra Island on Tuesday, after a powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami killed at least 31 people and left 160 missing. The tsunami, triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea quake, slammed into the Mentawai Islands late Monday. Local officials say the most rescue help is needed in the waters rather than on land and I quote them in saying, “We’ve instructed fisherman to help search at sea.”
So far there has been 15 bodies found at sea and numerous survivors. The tsunami caused the waters to reach as much as 10 feet in height and advanced as far as 2,000 feet inland. The disaster caused damage in the North and South Pagai islands.
Than, on Tuesday, Indonesia’s most dangerous volcano erupted, prompting many of the 11,000 villagers to flee after hundreds have already been injured. A doctor at the Panti Nugroho Hospital in Sleman reported that people had burns over 80% of their bodies. It is still not clear why the two diasters occurred within days of each other, but the island holding 237 million people have always been prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity; Just not within 24 hours of each other.
- Scott Marsicano
I feel really bad for the people who live in Indonesia right now. not only do they have to deal a tsunami but they also have to deal with a extremely dangerous volcano. its like they got hit by a one two punch. I just hope that the U.S. and many other countries will step in and help the people of Indonesia because they could really use some help right now
ReplyDeleteTragedies like this are the reason that these tropical islands need tsunami detectors. Installing a buoy system to warn the citizens of these islands would be much more cost effective than waiting till one occurs and then cleaning up. It is unfortunate that the volcano and tsunami happened within two days of each other. At least we will be able to see good will and help from those more fortunate out of this terrible situation.
ReplyDeleteI've been following this on my twitter since last Tuesday and reading about it everyday online. This was a crazy event and imagine if Mount Merapi actually violently erupted?! This could have been far worse. I hope everyone at sea can get saved. As for the warnings, there really wasn't much of any for the tsunami. The warning to evacuate because of the volcano was good, but I wonder if evacuating 11,000 people actually happened.
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