Survivors starved of aid as Indonesia struggles to cope with dual disaster

Survivors of the Indonesian tsunami that killed more than 400 people yesterday languished at an under-resourced hospital alongside an orphaned two-month-old baby found in a storm drain.

The injured lay on mats or the bare floor as rainwater dripped from holes in the ceiling.

The baby, named locally as Imanuel Tegar, suffered fluid build up in his lungs and cuts on his face, but slept unaware in a humidified crib.

"We need doctors, specialists," nurse Anputra said at the tiny hospital in Pagai Utara - one of the four main islands in the Mentawai chain hit by Monday's tsunami.

A shortage of boats is slowing delivery of tons of food, water and blankets. On the main island of Java, the eruption of Mount Merapi killed 33 people this week. Yesterday it erupted five more times, sending searing clouds of ash cascading down its slopes.

A relief co-ordinator acknowledged that aid was being held up as a result of the volcano and rough seas. Lack of trucks and poor roads have further hampered relief efforts.

"We need more boats," one local aid worker said, highlighting that many boats were washed out to sea by the tsunami. The toll from the tsunami and the 7.7-magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean that spawned it rose to 408 yesterday as officials found more bodies. An estimated 303 people were still missing and feared swept out to sea, said Agus Prayitno of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management centre.

Along with the 33 people killed by a volcano that erupted Tuesday more than 800 miles to the east in central Java, the number of dead from Indonesia's twin disasters this week has now reached 441.

After a lull that allowed mourners to hold a mass burial for victims, Mount Merapi rumbled with three small eruptions Thursday and five early yesterday - easing pressure and possibly making another big eruption less likely. There were no reports of new injuries or damage.

The catastrophes struck within 24 hours in different parts of the seismically active country, severely testing Indonesia's emergency response network. ??Huge swaths of land were inundated by the tsunami which wrecked homes along the coast and left swollen corpses dotted along roads and beaches.

At the hospital on Pagai Utara, 35-year-old Sarifinus cradled his five-year-old son, Dimas, who screamed as medics tended his broken arm.

Sarifinus described how, when the wall of water came, he grabbed his two other young sons and ran toward the mountain.The wave tore both from his arms and sucked them away.Sarifinus and wife Martina, who sat staring blankly in a corner of the hospital, found Dimas alive after the waters receded.

At Mount Merapi, hot clouds of ash spewed forth at 6:10am, 8:40am and 11:19am on Friday, according to Subandriyo, a senior government volcanologist.

The activity appeared to be easing pressure behind a lava dome that formed in the crater, said Safari Dwiyono, a scientist who monitoring Merapi for 15 years. "If the energy continues to release little by little like this, it reduces the chances of having a bigger, powerful eruption," he said. Residents from Kinahrejo, Ngrangkah, and Kaliadem - villages devastated in Tuesday's blast - crammed into refugee camps. Officials brought cows, buffalo and goats down the mountain so villagers wouldn't try to go home to check them.

Thousands attended a mass burial for 26 victims six miles from the volcano. Family and friends wept and hugged one another as the bodies were lowered into the grave in rows.