Updated on
Summary
More than 400 people have been confirmed dead and 300 are still missing after a tsunami hit Indonesia. About 200 people of the ones still missing were probably killed, carried out to sea or buried in the sand by the 3-meter waves. The tsunami was triggered by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Indonesia on Monday. Heavy rains and high tides are obstructing the efforts for delivering of supplies to the survivors on the Mentawai Islands, off the west coast of Sumatra. Disaster-relief officials were planning to drop aid by air. However, it turned out there were not enough helicopters to reach all of the devastated areas. The tsunami washed away 10 villages and 468 houses because of a failure in the early warning system, designed to alert people for waves higher than 3 meters. The Indonesian government has pledged millions of dollars for the relief effort, but aid agencies said people on the islands still urgently need food and shelte. The population of the Mentawai Islands is not large, but they are a popular surfing spot. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to quakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.
