More than 100 people are dead and hundreds more are missing in western Indonesia after a tsunami hit the coasts of several islands on Tuesday.
The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 7.5 quake that struck about 50 miles west of South Pagai, an island off the coast of Sumatra.
As of the latest toll, 113 people are reported dead and 502 people are missing.
On North Pagai Island, a popular surfing destination, a wall of water tore apart the Macaronis Resort’s wooden bungalows. There were no fatalities as most guests were able to escape to the resort’s three-story cafe, eyewitnesses say.
Reports from Surf Aid International say that several charter boats carrying guests around the resort were thrown together by the waves and that one vessel burst into flames.
Guests on the burning boat were saved by a nearby charter, but some guest and crew trying to escape the flames were washed into the jungle and had to travel more than an hour to return to the beach.
In an official statement by the resort’s company, World Surfaris, the Macaronis Resort has been “rendered inoperable until further notice.”
A tourist boat carrying nine Australian tourists believed to be near the epicenter of the quake also went missing for 21 hours. The crew and the tourists were found late last night.
Though the devastation has not been deadly for the tourists in this sparsely populated surfing destination, scores of villagers are either missing or dislocated, and rough seas and high winds are hampering rescue efforts.
On the island of Pagai, hundreds of homes were washed away, while in Muntei Baru local officials reported that 80 percent of the houses were badly damaged by the waves.
East of the tsunami devastation, the islands’ most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted on Tuesday causing the Indonesian government to evacuate the more than 11,000 villagers that live on the volcano’s slopes. Hot ash spewing from the volcano injured more than 20 people and killed a toddler.
The volcano eruption is said to be unrelated to the earthquake and tsunami.
Indonesia is one of the world’s most seismically active places. In 2004, an earthquake off the cost of Sumatra caused a tsunami that killed 230,000 people.
By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.
Related Links: The Guardian (UK), The New York Times, Reuters
Related Links on PeterGreenberg.com:
- Natural Disasters section
- Chile Earthquake Sparks Minor Tsunami But Major Damage
- Post-Tsunami Recovery Efforts Begin in Samoan Islands, American Samoa
- Powerful Indonesian Earthquake Wreaks More Havoc in Pacific Region
- Grateful Traveler: Mount Bromo, Indonesia
- Asia-Pacific Region Copes With Natural Disasters, Loss of Tourism
