Prayers, fear as tsunami toll tops 400

A small Christmas service was held near a stretch of Indonesia’s tsunami-struck coastline yesterday, as panicked residents in one coastal town tried to flee after rumours spread that another deadly wave was about to smash into the coast. It turned out to be a false alarm, but widespread fears about a repeat disaster -- and warnings that clean water and medicine supplies were running low -- rippled across the region as the death toll from Saturday’s volcano-triggered disaster topped 400.

Thousands more have been displaced, with many left homeless after houses were flattened by the killer wave. “A lot of the children are sick with fevers, headaches and they haven’t had enough water,” said Rizal Alimin, a doctor working for NGO Aksi Cepat Tanggap, at a local school that was turned into a temporary shelter. “We have less medicine than usual ... It’s not healthy here for evacuees.” The powerful tsunami struck at night and without warning, sweeping over popular beaches on southern Sumatra and the western edge of Java and inundating tourist hotels and coastal settlements.