Indonesia toll climbs to 430 as Krakatoa threatens again

I ndonesian search and rescue teams yesterday plucked stranded residents from remote islands and pushed into isolated communities desperate for aid in the aftermath of a volcano-triggered tsunami that killed over 400. But torrential rains hampered the effort and heaped more misery on the region, as officials warned another killer wave could hit the stricken area. The disaster agency cautioned residents to stay clear of the coast, as fresh activity at the Anak Krakatoa volcano, which sits in the middle of the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, threatened to spark another tsunami.

A section of the crater -- which emerged at the site of the legendary Krakatoa volcano, whose massive 1883 eruption killed at least 36,000 people -- collapsed after an eruption and slid into the ocean, triggering Saturday night’s killer wave. It struck without warning, washing over popular beaches and inundating tourist hotels and coastal communities, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake. The disaster agency slightly raised the death toll Wednesday to 430, with 1,495 people injured and another 159 missing.

Nearly 22,000 people have been evacuated and are living in shelters. “There’s a chance the number of fatalities will rise,” agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press briefing. Medical workers have warned that clean water and medicine supplies were running low -- stoking fears of a public health crisis -- as thousands of displaced survivors cram shelters and hospitals.  Many have been left homeless by the killer wave, and fear going back to their communities.  “I’m here because people said there could another tsunami,” Etin Supriatin said from an evacuation centre in shattered Labuan.