Thousands flee homes as Indonesian province swamped by tidal waves

TIDAL waves swamped towns in northwestern Indonesia close to the epicentre of yesterday’s massive undersea earthquake, killing at least 4,185 people and leaving corpses wedged in trees as waters receded, the health ministry and witnesses said.

Most of the dead were in the province of Aceh, which lies on the northern tip of Sumatra Island. At least 49 were killed on the island of Nias, to the west of Sumatra, close to the epicentre of the 8.9 magnitude quake.

At least 30,000 people were reported to have fled their homes in the region. Hundreds were still missing, officials said.

The corpses of at least six children were laid on stretchers in morgues at one hospital in the northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe, witnesses said. Local Metro TV station showed a screaming mother hugging and kissing her dead child.

Health ministry official Els Mangundap said 1,902 people had died across the region, including some 1,400 in the Aceh provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Communications to the town had been cut since the quake struck earlier today.

The earthquake - the most powerful in 40 years - triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into coastlines across Asia, killing more than 11,500 people in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Thailand.

Communications to several regions in Aceh were still cut off as night fell some 12 hours after the quake struck, raising fears that the death toll could still rise further.

The government struggled to respond to the disaster in Aceh, which has been torn by separatist violence for 26 years. Jakarta has prevented foreign journalists and aid agencies from visiting the region for more than a year. It appeared likely that the restrictions on international aid workers would be lifted to allow emergency supplies to be sent to the province.

“We still don’t know what’s happening there because of a lack of communication,” said Vice President Jusuf Kalla. “We’re sending our two top ministers to Aceh right now. We’re also preparing food supplies, medicines and makeshift shelters as emergency backup.”

Thousands of people abandoned their homes and were headed for higher ground after the earthquake, centred 40 kilometres below the seabed, sent waves surging inland at about 8am (1am Irish time), officials said.

Mangundap said the deaths - as a result of flooding and earthquake damage - were spread across coastal regions throughout the province, which is home to some 4.3 million people.