Indonesian quake toll continues to rise

An orphaned baby was found alive today three days after the Indonesian earthquake that has killed more than 350 people.

The 18-month-old boy was recovering in a health centre after being found in a clump of trees on Pagai Selatan island.

Both his parents were confirmed dead.

The discovery was one of the few bright spots after the tsunami flattened villages and displaced tens of thousands of people when it hit on Monday. The death toll rose above 350 today with fears that hundreds more bodies may have been swept out to sea.

On the other side of the country the volcano that killed 33 people earlier this week began erupting again.

The twin catastrophes struck within 24 hours severely testing the emergency response network.

Islanders dug graves and slung up plastic sheets to sleep under in one of the hardest-hit areas, where a 10ft wave had swept houses off their foundations and deposited the shattered remains in the jungle.

Many who fled to the hills were refusing to return home for fear the sea might lash out again.

Officials said a multimillion-dollar warning system installed after the monster 2004 quake and tsunami broke down a month ago because it was not being properly maintained.

Search and rescue teams – kept away for days by stormy seas and bad weather - found roads and beaches with swollen corpses lying on them, the West Sumatra provincial disaster management centre said.

Some wore face masks as they wrapped corpses in black body bags on Pagai Utara, one of the four main islands in the Mentawai chain located between Sumatra and the Indian Ocean.

The teams were losing hope of finding those missing since the wall of water, created by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, crashed into the islands.

“They believe many, many of the bodies were swept to sea,” said a spokesman.

On Pagai Seatandug island the sea had deposited giant chunks of coral and rocks the size of people into the places where homes once stood in Pro Rogat village, one of the hardest-hit areas with 65 dead.

On nearby Pagai Utara island, more than 100 survivors crowded into a makeshift medical centre in the main town of Sikakap. Some still wept for lost loved ones as they lay on straw mats or sat on the floor, waiting for medics.

Officials questioned whether the tsunami warning system had functioned properly. The chief of Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysic Agency, Fauzi, said the special buoys that detect sudden changes in water level broke down last month because of inexperienced operators and poor maintenance.

However, Joern Lauterjung, head of the German-Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning Project for the Potsdam-based GeoForschungs Zentrum, said a warning did go out five minutes after the quake – but the tsunami hit so fast no one was warned in time.

“The early warning system worked very well – it can be verified,” he said.

About 800 miles to the east of the tsunami zone, Mount Merapi in central Java began spewing hot clouds of ash again.

Most residents have been evacuated from the area. It was unclear whether the new activity was a sign of another major blast to come. Tuesday’s eruption killed at least 33 people and injured 17.

Residents from the hardest-hit villages of Kinahrejo, Ngrangkah, and Kaliadem crammed into refugee camps.

Thousands attended a mass burial for 26 of the victims six miles from the mountain’s base.

Among the dead was a revered elder who had refused to leave his ceremonial post as caretaker of the mountain’s spirits. He was buried in a separate funeral.