As (probably) the sole Indonesian out here, I feel quite obliged to post. We have recently just hit by two natural disasters.
First, the Merapi Volcano finally erupted.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11625154
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11632982
First, the Merapi Volcano finally erupted.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11625154
Just before that, a tsunami happened.Deaths as thousands flee Indonesia volcano Merapi
<div class="warning"> <img class="holding" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49667000/jpg/_49667345_jex_849074_de23-1.jpg" alt="Evacuees from Mount Merapi volcano" /> <p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.</strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.</p> </div>Click to play
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The BBC's Karishma Vaswani: "Evacuation an extremely difficult procedure"
At least 13 people have been killed in Indonesia after the country's most volatile volcano erupted.
Mount Merapi, in central Java, began erupting just before dusk on Tuesday, spewing plumes of hot ash and rocks.
Officials say the volcano victims, including a small baby, were killed by the heat and burning ash.
Thousands of people have been evacuated amid fears pressure building up beneath Merapi's lava dome could lead to one of the most powerful blasts in years.
But a further 13,000 people need to be evacuated from within a 10-mile (16km) radius of the volcano, officials say.
It is thought that 5,000 people live on or near the volcano.
'Severe burns' Television footage showed thousands of people fleeing the area, some covered in the volcano's white ash which rained from the sky.
People with severe burns were seen being taken away on stretchers.
People have been severely burned by the hot ash falling on them
An eyewitness said he went to help a family trapped in their home but could not reach them.
"I was 10 metres away from the family but couldn't get any closer because the ash was very hot, so we couldn't handle it," the Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted him as saying.
"To get out of the area, I had to hold on to trees to avoid the hot tarmac. That is why I survived, otherwise I don't think I would have made it."
Emergency teams have found at least 12 bodies in the area close to the mountain, local media report.
"There are likely to be more victims as the terrain is difficult, roads are damaged and trees uprooted, it's dark and the condition of the volcano is still unstable," said Yogyakarta search and rescue official Taufiq.
Meanwhile, a doctor at Muntilan hospital confirmed to Metro TV that a small baby had died there on Tuesday.
"The baby had severe breathing difficulties from inhaling volcanic materials and we could not help it," said Sasongko, who uses only one name.
Dr Adi Mulyo at Panti Nugroho hospital said 18 people were being treated there for severe burns - some were suffering burns to 90% of their bodies.
He said the hospital did not have enough equipment to treat all the injured, so some were being sent to a larger hospital in Sarjito.
Villagers stranded Thousands of people living near the volcano have been ordered to move to safer ground, but many are still refusing to leave.
Some are refusing to heed the warnings because they do not want to leave their livestock and properties behind.
Ponco Sumarto, 65, who arrived at a makeshift camp with her two grandchildren, said her children had stayed behind to look after their crops.
"I just have to follow orders to take shelter here for safety, even though I'd rather stay at home," AP quoted her as saying.
The head of one village near the volcano said that many residents were stranded. He said rain loaded with volcanic ash had reduced visibility to just 5m (16ft).
"We are evacuating to the village square, around 14km from Mount Merapi slope. Some of the villagers are still stranded but we received text messages from them, saying that they are OK," Heri Suprapto told the BBC.
BBC Indonesia correspondent Karishma Vaswani says that for many Javanese, Mt Merapi is a sacred site.
Officials say some of the villagers are waiting for the local "gatekeeper" of the volcano to tell them that the increased activity at Mt Merapi is dangerous.
Described as a medicine man, he is believed by many villagers to have a spiritual connection to the volcano.
He has reportedly said he will not leave yet, but is urging villagers to make their way to government shelters, our correspondent says.
Pressure building On Monday, officials monitoring the volcano raised the alert for Mount Merapi to the highest possible level.
Since then, more than 600 volcanic earthquakes have been recorded around the mountain.
"We heard three explosions around 1800 (1100 GMT) spewing volcanic material as high as 1.5km (one mile) and sending heat clouds down the slopes," government vulcanologist Surono told AFP news agency.
He warned that pressure was building up behind a lava dome near the crater.
"We hope it will release slowly," he said. "Otherwise, we're looking at a potentially huge eruption, bigger than anything we've seen in years."
He said this eruption was more powerful than the volcano's last blast, in 2006, which killed two people.
In 1930 another powerful eruption wiped out 13 villages, killing more than 1,000 people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11632982
Indonesia tsunami: Death toll soars to 282
The death toll from a tsunami that hit several remote islands in Indonesia has risen to at least 282, officials say.
Related stories
Rescue teams on the Mentawai islands say hundreds are still missing, two days after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami in western Sumatra.
Officials say there were faults with an early warning system designed to alert locals to the 3m-high (10ft) wave.
Indonesia's president has cut short a trip to Vietnam to visit the islands and oversee the relief operation.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono flew back from a meeting with regional leaders to help deal with the tsunami aftermath.
On Thursday he is expected to tour the region to monitor relief efforts. He will also be briefed on the rescue effort on Java, where an erupting volcano has caused chaos.
Warning doubts At least 10 villages on a series of islands known as the Pagai islands are thought to have been flattened by the tsunami, caused by the earthquake late on Monday.
Waves reached 3m high and the water swept as far as 600m inland on South Pagai.
The devastation is only now beginning to emerge, says BBC Indonesia correspondent Karishma Vaswani.
The first aerial images emerging from the Mentawai Islands showed bodies being collected from empty clearings where homes and buildings once stood before they were levelled by the power of the wave.
Corpses were strewn along beaches and roads, said district chief Edison Salelo Baja.
Rescue teams are now finally on the ground, but they have yet to reach the worst affected areas, with bad weather delaying their work, adds our correspondent.
Rough seas have made it difficult to ship aid to the Mentawai islands from Padang, the nearest major port on Indonesia's largest island, Sumatra. Forecasters say the bad weather is likely to continue in the coming days.
The Indonesian military has also been mobilised, with helicopters bringing much-needed medical supplies and aid for affected villagers. The priority for rescue workers is to find as many survivors as they can, and get them to safe shelters.
Even as the rescue effort escalated, doubts emerged about the effectiveness of an expensive early-warning system designed after the lethal Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.
Buoys that form part of a system monitoring ocean waves and measuring tides were out of action when the quake hit - possibly vandalised, officials told BBC Indonesian.
However, even a functioning warning system may have been too late for people in the Pagai islands.
"Pagai Islands is very close to the epicentre, so the waves reached Pagai Island in just five or 10 minutes. Even if the buoy is on, it is still too late to warn people," said Ridwan Jamaluddin, of the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.
In the tsunami zone, regional disaster official Hermansyah said survivors were in urgent need of help.
"They have lost their houses and now need a lot of aid and assistance. There are some tents already arrived here but we still need many more," he told AFP news agency.
The islands are described as extremely remote, with few roads or functioning telephone lines even before the tsunami hit, making it difficult to make an accurate assessment of the scale of the damage.
One man, a farmer named Borinte from the island of North Pagai, told AFP he had lost his wife and children. He confirmed that people living in the path of the tsunami received little or no warning.
"About 10 minutes after the quake we heard a loud, thunderous sound. We went outside and saw the wave coming. We tried to run away to higher ground but the wave was much quicker than us," Borinte said.
"I'm so sorry that I couldn't save my wife and children as I panicked and didn't know what to do. I was swept away as well but I managed to survive by holding onto a wooden plank."
Hermansyah told BBC Indonesian that about 4,000 households had been displaced by the tsunami, and that many people had fled to higher ground.
He said that those displaced needed tents, blankets, food, drinking water and medicine.
<div class="warning"> <img class="holding" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49671000/jpg/_49671252_jex_849540_de27-1.jpg" alt="Daniel North crew member of MV Midas" /> <p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.</strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.</p> </div>Click to play
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Tsunami eyewitness Daniel North was on a yacht when the wave hit
On Tuesday, local fisheries official Hardimansyah said most buildings in the South Pagai coastal village of Betu Monga had been destroyed and many women and children were missing.
The Indonesian Red Cross said it was despatching a team to the islands, and would send 1,000 tents.
US President Barack Obama, who spent some of his childhood in Indonesia, has spoken of his sadness at the deaths and offered US help if required.
The vast Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.
More than 1,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Sumatra in September 2009.
In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
Everyone, I humbly ask for your prayers; for the victims, and for the money that will be send to help them. (add: for fear of corruption and the money needed for them was 'missing' in the road)
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