Indonesia reeling from deadly tsunami, volcanic eruption

The stuff of nightmares. I hope they find most of the missing alive.

“We threw whatever we could that floated—surfboards, fenders—then we jumped into the water,”

A dream of every surfer. Must have been some good riding until they got to those trees and climbed up. Wondering why though they had car fenders, or fender guitars on their boats.

Tsunami are more dangerous than great whites though.

Dude, boat fenders are rubber bumpers that the hang over the side to keep the boat from hitting the pier or other boats.

Hanging polystyrene boat fenders, goddog?

How can a wave pick up and smash another boat onto yours, then set off a fire which 'soon ripped through the cabin', and then... you still have time to throw floatable stuff into the sea, jump in and grab something and be washed 200 meters into shore?

Thanks Techall. We always called them tires on Long Island.

satellite map of Mount Merapi volcano:

satelliteview.org

smithinjapan

The stuff of nightmares

No Kidding ! I don't know how the people in Indonesia recover ! They get hit with one traumatic natural disaster after another.

"sweeping away villages"

I guarantee they'll rebuild these villages in the same exact places - right next to the ocean! They never learn...

2nd tsunami in Mentawai after the tsunami on December 2004.

"Both events fell along Indonesia’s portion of the Pacific Ring of Fire,"

Mount Merapi is not actually part of the "Pacific Ring of Fire" it is part of a different grouping on the Indian ocean!

I know Wiki says it is but in actuality most volcanologist will tell you otherwise.

Guys, I'm in Indonesia right now, on the island of Batam, about 40 km from Singapore (across the Singapore strait). The earthquake and tsunami wee on the other side of Sumatra. One month ago a volcano erupted that was dormant for about 100 years and it barely made the news here because they have more than 150 active volcanos. Yesterday they had the earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and flood on the same day. This place is really awesome.

Sarge, on those low-lying small islands I doubt there is much high ground. Plus the people want to be close to their boats.

I hope more survivors are found but tsunamis are particularly deadly if you can't get away from it completely.

@ca1ic0cat: Actually they are mountain peaks sticking out of the water. Most of these island have peaks about 500 to 800 ft high but most villages are on the coast. The epicenter of the eathquakes are very close to the islands so very little warning for tsunamis.

Unfortunately the people of Indonesia have had prior earthquakes to also other suffering matters. It is a pity, but undortunately they just sort of live in the wrong island.