National

Navy ships packed with medicine and food and rescuers in helicopters
heade Tuesday to remote Indonesian islands that were pounded by a
10-foot (3-meter) tsunami, sweeping away villages and killing at least
272 people.

Rough seas and bad weather have hampered relief operations, leaving
villagers to fend for themselves for nearly two days. With not enough
people to dig graves, corses littered beaches and roads, according to
district chief, Edison Salelo Baja. Fisherman were scouring waters in
search of survivors.

The fault line that ruptured Monday on Sumatra island's coast also
caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed
230,000 people in a dozen ountries.

Disaster officials have been unable so far to reach many of the villages
on the hardest hit Mentawai islands - a popular surfer's destination that
is usually reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride. But they were preparing
for the worst Wednesday.

"We have 200 body bags on the way, just in cas," said Mujiharto, who
 heads the Health Ministry's crisis center, putting the death toll so far at
 272 with hundreds more still missing.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes and
volcanic activity due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire
- a series of fault lnes stretching from the Western Hemisphere through
Japan and Southeast Asia.

The country's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, 800 miles
(1,300 kilometers) to the east, started to erupt at dusk Tuesday as
 scientists warned that pressure building beneath its lava dome could
 trigger one of the most powerfublasts in years.

The 7.7-magnitude quake that struck late Monday just 13 miles
(20 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor was followed by at least
14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, and many panicked
residents have been too afraid to return home.

That could account in part for the more than 500 pople still missing
, said Hendri Dori Satoko, a local parliamentarian who was overseeing
a fact-finding missing. "We're trying to stay hopeful," he said.

The first cargo plane loaded down with 16 tons of tents, medicine,
food and clothes was expected to arrive by Wednesday afternoon,
said Nelis Zuliastri a spokeswoman for the National Disaster
Management Agency.

Two helicopters also were on the way, as was a Navy ship and
a boat carrying dozens of police and military personnel, said
Ade Edward, another disaster official.

Officials say hundreds of wooden and bamboo homes were washed
away on the island of Pagai, with water flooding crops and roads up
to 600 yards (meters) inland. In Muntei Baru, a village on Silabu island,
80 percent of the houses were badly damaged.

Those and other islets hit were part of the Mentawai island chain,
175 miles (280 kilometers) from Sumatra.

Eight Australian survivors, and American and a New Zealander
arrived in the Sumatran city of Padang on Wednesday, recounting
their harrowing encounter with the tsunami.

They said they were on the back deck of their anchored boat,
the 'MV Midas,' when the wall of water smashed them into a
neighbouring vessel, triggering a fire that quickly ripped through
their cabin.

"They hit us directly in the side of the boat, piercing a fuel tank,"
said Daniel North, the American crew member. "Almost immediately
, the captain gave the order to abandon ship and everyone got off the boat."

They clung to surfboards, fenders - anything that floated - as they washed
 in the wetlands and then climbed the highest trees they could find and
 waited for more than 90 minutes until they felt safe.

Ade Edward, a disaster management agency official, said crews from
a tourist boat were found safe after more than 24 hours missing in the
Indian Ocean, including up to nine foreigners.