The Chinese embassy in Indonesia has not received any reports of Chinese casualties in the earthquake, which took place near the Mentawai islands, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday evening on its website.
Chen Jianqiu, head of the overseas office of China International Travel Service, said that as far as he knew, few Chinese tour groups travel to the Mentawai islands.
"None of our tour groups has been affected by the earthquake," he said.
China Southern Airlines and Cathay Pacific confirmed that flights to Jakarta are running as scheduled on Wednesday.
Source: China Daily
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A powerful earthquake triggered tsunami struck a remote district of West Sumatra, Indonesia, killing at least 113 people and leaving more than 500 missing.
Villagers who are evacuated from their homes on the slopes of Mount Merapi arrive at a temporary shelter in Pakem, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct.26, 2010. Indonesia's most volatile volcano started erupting Tuesday, after scientists warned that pressure building beneath its dome could trigger the most powerful eruption in years. (Photo: AP))
And, a volcanic eruption of Mountain Merapi killed at least 18 people, forced thousands to flee down its slopes and spewed burning ash and smoke high into the air on the island.
The twin disasters happened hours apart in one of the most seismically active regions on this planet.
Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Merapi's lava dome could trigger its most powerful explosion in years.A 2006 eruption at Merapi killed two people, one in 1994 killed 60 people, and a 1930 blast killed 1,300.
After refusing to budge from the volcano's fertile slopes, saying they wanted to tend to their crops and protect their homes, villagers started streaming by the thousands into makeshift emergency shelters late Tuesday. Many carried sleeping mats, bags of clothes and food as they settled in.
Even as they contended with the volcano — one of 129 to watch in the world's largest archipelago — officials were trying to assess the impact of Monday night's 7.7-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra that triggered the killer tsunami.
The quake, just 20 kilometers beneath the ocean floor, was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The fault also caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
After Monday's quake and tsunami, many panicked residents fled to high ground and were too afraid to return home.
That could account in part for the more than 500 people still missing, said Hendri Dori, a local parliamentarian, adding: "We're trying to stay hopeful."
Hundreds of wooden and bamboo homes were washed away on the island of Pagai, with water flooding crops and roads up to 600 meters inland. In Muntei Baru, a village on Silabu island, 80 percent of the houses were badly damaged.
With few relief workers able to get to the hardest-hit islands — reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride — fishermen searched for the living and dead. Corpses lay unburied because there was not enough outside help to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja.
The island chain, 280 kilometers from Sumatra, has long been popular with surfers.
A group of Australians said they were on the back deck of their chartered boat, anchored in a bay, when the quake hit just before 10 p.m. Monday. It generated a wave that pushed their boat into a neighboring vessel. A fire soon ripped through their cabin.
"We threw whatever we could that floated — surfboards, fenders — then we jumped into the water," Rick Hallet told Australia's Nine Network. "Fortunately, most of us had something to hold on to ... and we just washed in the wetlands, and scrambled up the highest trees that we could possibly find and sat up there for an hour and a half."
Ade Edward, a disaster management agency official, said crews from several ships were still unaccounted for in the Indian Ocean.
Agencies / People's Daily Online
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17 killed by hot ash after volcano eruption in Central Java, Indonesia
08:25, October 27, 2010
Caption Mount Merapi volcano emits smoke as it is seen from Kinahrejo village near Yogyakarta October 26, 2010. Indonesia's Mount Merapi erupted on Tuesday, prompting terrified villagers to flee and join the thousands already evacuated from its slopes. (Xinhua/Reuters)A volcano eruption on Tuesday afternoon in Central Java of Indonesia has killed 17 people and injured at least 39 after the victims were hit by hot ash, and over 15,000 people have fled their homes, local officials said on Wednesday.
Sixteen people were found dead in one area, and a baby died on the way to hospital, Yogyakarta Disaster and Mitigation Management Agency official Windu Wiryawan said.
"Sixteen bodies have been found in one compound which was covered by ash, and one baby was also killed," he told Xinhua over the phone from Yogyakarta.
Most of the victims' bodies have been severely burned and turned black, according to a local TV report.
Wiryawan said that there were at least 39 people receiving treatment in hospitals for respiratory problems and injuries.
"Many trees fell after being hit by the hot ash, and this hampers the evacuation," he said.
Local authorities have ordered residents within 10 kilometers of the volcano to evacuate the area, said Wiryawan.
"There have been more than 15,000 people taking shelters so far. They live in barracks, schools and makeshift tents," he said.
The 2,968-meter-high Mount Merapi erupted three times on Tuesday, with the first one recorded at 5:02 p.m. Jakarta time ( 1002 GMT).
An observer at the monitoring post for Mount Merapi in Sleman district of Yogyakarta, Heru Saparwoko, told Xinhua on the phone that the situation is under close watch.
Local TV footage showed thousands of panicked residents fled the danger zone by cars or other vehicles to take shelter in areas far from the mountain.
There are still over 40,000 people near the mountain, local officials said.
The previous eruption of Mount Merapi in 2006 killed two people. A 1994 eruption claimed 60 lives. In 1930, a major eruption killed more than 1,000 people.
Indonesia lies in a quake-prone zone called the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the country now has 129 active volcanoes.
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