Story by Amy Jarvis
Recently, Indonesia suffered two natural disasters in the same day. Near the island of Sumatra, an earthquake struck, resulting in a tsunami on the night of Monday, October 25th. The vast tidal wave left an estimated one hundred and thirteen people dead and hundreds more missing. Thousands of people are now homeless as a result of the disaster.
About eight hundred miles away on the island of Java, the active volcano, Mount Merapi erupted several times on Tuesday night. As a result of this disaster, thousands of people were forced to flee from the shadow of the volcano. Twenty-five people died, and at least fifteen were injured.
The island of Indonesia is located on what is known as the “ring of fire”, which is a series of fault lines in the Pacific. This can sometimes trigger multiple natural disasters. However, after thorough investigation, it was found that the earthquake which took place underwater near Sumatra was not large enough to have triggered the volcanic eruptions in Java. The two events ironically were unrelated.
Unfortunately, the underwater earthquake, measuring 7.7 on the richter scale was enough to trigger a tsunami that affected the Mentawai Islands, bringing many people out to sea after it subsided. The tidal wave produced a ten foot wall of water, and swept as far as two thousand feet onto land.
On Tuesday, officials were finally able to get to the Mentawai Islands in order to survey the damage and begin a search for missing people, mainly at sea. Because of the rough seas and other conditions, some of the islands have not been reached, as of last week. Unlike the earthquake which resulted in a tsunami, the volcanic eruptions on Tuesday had been anticipated by the residents of Java. Many people had already been evacuated before anything happened, which saved many lives. The pressure under the volcano resulted in four explosions that started on Tuesday night. Indonesia is no stranger to natural disaster, and unfortunately sometimes the power of nature can be too much for people to overcome. Hopefully we will have positive news about the tsunami and volcanic eruption soon.
Please keep Indonesia in your thoughts and remember that with the help of each other, we can all make a difference, no matter how large the problem may be.
