The Indonesian islands were pounded by a 10-foot (three-meter) tsunami that swept away homes, killing at least 113 people.
Casualties are expected to rise in this sparsely populated surfing destination as more information is coming in slows in the area.
More than 4,000 people are expected to spend the night without shelter because tents and other supplies had not arrived in the area yet. Fisherman were left to find the dead and looking for survivers. Corpses are left skaterd about since no one has started diging graves for the dead.
The fault that ruptured Monday on Sumatra island’s coast also caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
Though hundreds of disaster officials were unable to get to many of the villages on the Mentawai islands — reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride — they were preparing for the worst.
“We have 200 body bags on the way, just in case,” said Mujiharto, who heads the Health Ministry’s crisis center, shortly before announcing a five-fold increase in the death toll.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.