Day after tsunami strikes Indonesia, volcano erupts

PADANG, INDONESIA - Rescuers battled rough seas Tuesday to reach remote Indonesian islands pounded by a 10-foot tsunami that swept away homes, killing at least 113 people. Scores more were missing, and information was just beginning to trickle in from the sparsely populated surfing destination, so casualties were expected to rise.

With few able to get to the islands to help search, fishermen were left to find the dead and look for the living. Corpses were strewn about because there were not enough people to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja.

The fault that ruptured Monday off the island of Sumatra was the same one that caused the earthquake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries in 2004.

Also Tuesday, Indonesia's most volatile volcano erupted, killing at least 18 people, including a 2-month-old baby, according to doctors and media reports.

Smoke poured out of Mount Merapi, obscuring its cone, according to video footage shown on the private Metro TV station. Police and volunteers were shown carrying ash-covered corpses to waiting vehicles.

Although some scientists have said that the current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in the coming weeks or months, Gede Swantika, a government vulcanologist, said the 9,737-foot-high mountain appeared to be releasing some pressure building up beneath the lava dome.

"It's too early to know for sure," he said, adding: "But if it continues like this for a while, we are looking at a slow, long eruption."

- Associated Press

Riyadi reported from Mount Merapi.