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Tsunami kills at least 40, leaves 380 people missing in Indonesia's W. Sumatra

Other News Materials 26 October 2010 14:36 (UTC +04:00)
Strong earthquake on Monday has triggered tsunami in remote district of West Sumatra and killed at least 40 people and left 380 others missing.
Tsunami kills at least 40, leaves 380 people missing in Indonesia's W. Sumatra

Strong earthquake on Monday has triggered tsunami in remote district of West Sumatra and killed at least 40 people and left 380 others missing.
  
Private television station MetroTV who had interviewed Hendri Dori Satoko, speaker of regional parliament of Kepulauan Mentawai regency, reported that the search and rescue team is still searching the missing people, Xinhua reported.
  
"Based on report I received, at least 40 people are killed while 380 are missing," Satoko said.
  
High tide put obstacle on the SAR team to reach the tsunami location. Edison Salileo Baja, regent of Kepulauan Mentawai urged people to stay calm.
  
"Don't be too scared," said Baja. Metrotvnews.com quoted Joskamatir, head of Disaster Mitigation of Mentawai regency's Pagai Selatan area, that seven people out of 40 villagers of Muntai village were killed while they were fishing.
  
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency admitted that small tsunamis occurred five minutes after the main shock which was measured at 7.2 magnitude at 21:42 p.m. Jakarta time Monday (1442 GMT), although it lifted the warning about a half hour after the main shock.
  
The quake epicenter was located at 78 km southwest Pagaiselatan Mentawai and at a depth of 10 km under sea bed, the agency said. The US Geological Survey reported the quake was measured at 7.7 with deeper position at 14.2 km under sea bed.
  
"The tsunami occurred with the height at 0.461 meter," an official of the agency named only Sutiyono told Xinhua by phone.
  
But, a report said that the height of the waters reached 3 meters high in Silabu village at Pagaiutara Mentawai island, head of crisis center of Health Ministry named only Mujiharjo told Xinhua by phone.
  
Edward said that the tsunami also destroyed one bridge, five houses. But, head of crisis center said that 80 percent houses at Betumonga village at Pagaiutara Mentawai island have been leveled.
  
One tourist boat loaded by 10 Australian citizens and five crews has lost contact, he said.

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