A tsunami caused by an Indonesian earthquake late
Monday night killed at least 113 people and left almost 200 others missing
after it swept across villages on remote islands off the coast of
Sumatra
. Officials expected
the death toll to climb as damage reports emerged.
Meanwhile, authorities scrambled to evacuate homes on the slopes of
Mt.
Merapi
,
one of
Indonesia
's most volatile volcanoes, on Java island, as it began to erupt late
Tuesday. Several people were injured by hot ash spewed into the air and as many
as 20 people were taken away for treatment, the Associated Press reported.
(This story and related background material will be
available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
The
earthquake, measuring 7.7 in magnitude, struck 13 miles beneath the ocean
Monday near the Mentawai islands. It initially was thought to have caused
relatively little damage, triggering what was believed to be a small tsunami. But
many of the damaged areas, including popular surfing spots, can take hours to
reach from
Sumatra
, so the scale of the
destruction still isn't fully clear.
The Indonesian government declared a state of emergency for tsunami-affected
areas. Hendri Dori Satoko, the head of the regional government in the affected
area, told local television that some of the missing people may have taken
refuge on higher ground. Police on the Mentawai islands were searching for
missing people and setting up emergency posts.
The head of the Health Ministry Crisis Center, Mudjiharto, who like many
Indonesians goes by only one name, said medical personnel were on their way to
the hardest-hit areas. The Indonesian welfare minister will fly Wednesday
morning to monitor the relief work.
Indonesia
has
repeatedly faced earthquakes, eruptions and tsunamis over the years because of
its location along a series of highly volatile fault lines known as the Pacific
Ring of Fire. In December 2004, a tsunami caused by a magnitude-9 earthquake
off
Sumatra
killed more than 226,000 people across
Asia
. It was the deadliest tsunami
on record.