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Sara Schonhardt | Jakarta 26 October 2010
Twenty-three people are confirmed dead and more than 150 are missing after the tsunami struck a remote area in western Indonesia, according to reports that began to trickle in on Tuesday hours after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the country late Monday night.
The earthquake caused huge waves of up to to three meters high which slammed into the Mentawai islands, about 280 kilometers off western Sumatra. There are reports that hundreds of homes on the islands were damaged by the quake or the waves.
The government is getting aid to the islcands, says Wisnu Wijaya, the preparedness director with the National Disaster Management Agency.
"We already sent a rapid response team to this area, coordinated by the provincial government. We have local disaster management at Padang, because right now the condition of the wave is quite high," Wijaya says.
High waves and stormy weather have made it difficult to reach the affected areas. Communication is also a problem. Wijaya says emergency shelters have been set up and the first team from Sumatra was arriving Tuesday evening to begin a rapid assessment of the aid that was needed.
The quake could be felt as far away as Singapore.
It sent tsunami warning systems into action along Sumatra's western coast. It is the latest in a line of natural disasters to hit the area, but Wijaya says, for now, the damage is manageable.
"I think we still can manage this problem. Maybe also we'll send staff to go there and make a better coordination," Wijaya says. "If they need national resources to deploy there, we'll be ready to support local government."
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area prone to seismic shifts that spark earthquakes and volcanic activity. A massive earthquake in 2004 generated a monster wave that killed more than 230,000 people across the Indian Ocean.
After that disaster, Indonesia worked to establish early warning systems and disaster management programs to help deal with future quakes.
Indonesian authorities also continue to evacuate communities around Mount Merapi, a volcano on Java island that threatens to erupt soon. Disaster officials warn a massive lava dome that has formed near the mouth of the volcano could give way quickly in a large eruption.
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