New Blast Erupts From Indonesian Volcano is booming now

The new blast came as Indonesia also struggles to respond to a tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands. The twin disasters, unfolding simultaneously on opposite ends of the seismically active country, have killed nearly 500 people and severely tested the government's emergency response network. In both events, the military has been called in to help.

Mount Merapi, one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, has killed 38 since it started erupting a week ago.

More than 69,000 people villagers have been evacuated from the area around its once-fertile slopes - now blanketed by gray ash. Even in the crowded government camps miles (kilometers) away, people still instinctively ran for shelter at the power of Monday's eruption, which was accompanied by several deafening explosions, said Subrandrio, an official in charge of monitoring Merapi's activity.

Merapi has erupted many times in the last two centuries, often with deadly results. In 1994, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were incinerated, leaving up to 1,300 dead.

During lulls in activity, some villagers have returned to their homes to check on livestock and crops, but there were no indications any had been hurt in Monday's blast, said Waluyo Rahardjo, a National Search and Rescue Agency official.

As massive clouds spilled from the glowing cauldron and billowed into the air - continuing for nearly three hours after the blast - debris and ash cascaded nearly four miles (six kilometers) down the southeastern slopes, Subrandrio said.

More than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the west, meanwhile, a C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorized boats were ferrying aid to the most distant corners of the Mentawai Islands, where last week's tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques.

The tsunami death toll had reached 450 by Monday, said Nelis Zuliastri from the National Disaster Management Agency, with the number of missing now less than 100.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said relief efforts must be sped up and expressed dismay it took days for aid to reach the isolated islands, though he acknowledged that violent storms prevented most planes, helicopters and boats from operating.

New Blast Erupts From Indonesian Volcano is booming now

The new blast came as Indonesia also struggles to respond to a tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands. The twin disasters, unfolding simultaneously on opposite ends of the seismically active country, have killed nearly 500 people and severely tested the government's emergency response network. In both events, the military has been called in to help.

Mount Merapi, one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, has killed 38 since it started erupting a week ago.

More than 69,000 people villagers have been evacuated from the area around its once-fertile slopes - now blanketed by gray ash. Even in the crowded government camps miles (kilometers) away, people still instinctively ran for shelter at the power of Monday's eruption, which was accompanied by several deafening explosions, said Subrandrio, an official in charge of monitoring Merapi's activity.

Merapi has erupted many times in the last two centuries, often with deadly results. In 1994, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were incinerated, leaving up to 1,300 dead.

During lulls in activity, some villagers have returned to their homes to check on livestock and crops, but there were no indications any had been hurt in Monday's blast, said Waluyo Rahardjo, a National Search and Rescue Agency official.

As massive clouds spilled from the glowing cauldron and billowed into the air - continuing for nearly three hours after the blast - debris and ash cascaded nearly four miles (six kilometers) down the southeastern slopes, Subrandrio said.

More than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the west, meanwhile, a C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorized boats were ferrying aid to the most distant corners of the Mentawai Islands, where last week's tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques.

The tsunami death toll had reached 450 by Monday, said Nelis Zuliastri from the National Disaster Management Agency, with the number of missing now less than 100.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said relief efforts must be sped up and expressed dismay it took days for aid to reach the isolated islands, though he acknowledged that violent storms prevented most planes, helicopters and boats from operating.

Death toll from Indonesian disasters nears 430

A picture taken from Kinahrejo village in Sleman, Indonesia, on Thursday, Oct. 28, shows smoke rising from Mount Merapi. Disaster-prone Indonesia paused on Thursday to bury victims of Mount Merapi's violent eruption, including an elderly spiritual leader appointed to hush the volcano's restless spirits.






MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia
In a hospital on a remote Indonesian island ravaged by this week's tsunami, a 2-month-old boy orphaned by the big wave and found in a storm drain lay in a humidified crib, his lungs filled with fluid and cuts on his face.

"We need doctors, specialists," nurse Anputra said, as the baby blinked sleepliy.

Dozens of wounded people lay on mats on the floor nearby, rain water dripping onto them from holes in the ceiling. Plastic ropes were strung between rafters and IV cords hung from them.

The death toll from the 10-foot-high (three-meter-high) tsunami that slammed into islands off western Indonesia rose to 370 on Friday as officials found more bodies, although hundreds of people remained missing. Harmensyah, head of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management center, said rescue teams "believe many, many of the bodies were swept to sea."

Along with the 33 people killed by a volcano that erupted Tuesday more than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east in central Java, the number of dead from the twin disasters has now reached 426.

After a lull that allowed mourners to hold a mass burial for victims, Mount Merapi started rumbling again Thursday with three small eruptions and three others early Friday — easing pressure and possibly making another big eruption less likely. There were no reports of new injuries or damage.

The catastrophes struck within 24 hours in different parts of the seismically active country, severely testing Indonesia's emergency response network.

Aid workers trickling into the remote region found giant chunks of coral and rocks in places where homes once stood. Huge swaths of land were submerged. Swollen corpses dotted roads and beaches.

Inside the tiny hospital on Pagai Utara — one of the four main islands in the Mentawai chain located between Sumatra and the Indian Ocean — 35-year-old Sarifinus cradled his 5-year-old, Dimas, who screamed as medical staff tended to his broken arm.

The man described how, when the towering wall of water came, he grabbed his two other young sons and ran toward the mountain. The wave tore both from his arms and sucked them away.

Sarifinus and his wife, Martina, who sat staring blankly in a corner of the hospital, found Dimas alive after the waters receded.

Around 100 survivors packed into a nearby, makeshift medical center