PADANG, Indonesia, Oct 27, 2010 (AFP) - A wall of water triggered by an earthquake off Indonesia's west coast smashed boats and houses like they were made of matchsticks and swept half a kilometer inland, survivors said.
At least 200 homes in 10 villages and a resort popular with surfers were in ruins after the tsunami struck the Mentawai group of islands off the west coast of Sumatra late on Monday.
More than 150 people were killed and 400 people remain missing, according to officials.
Survivors said Wednesday that they had no warning that a tsunami was on its way after the 7.7-magnitude quake struck offshore at 9:42 pm (1442 GMT) on Monday.
Borinte, 32, a farmer from Detumonga village on the coast of North Pagai island, said he managed to stay alive by clasping to a piece of wood. His wife and three children were killed.
"About 10 minutes after the quake we heard a loud, thunderous sound. We went outside and saw the wave coming. We tried to run away to higher ground but the wave was much quicker than us," he told AFP.
"Our house, which is about 50 metres (yards) from the sea, was destroyed. Most houses in the village were destroyed. My wife and three children died as they were swept away. Their bodies were found the next day," he said.
"I'm so sorry that I couldn't save my wife and children as I panicked and didn't know what to do. I was swept away as well but I managed to survive by holding onto a wooden plank."
West Sumatra disaster management head Harmensyah said: "When the tsunami struck there were dozens of fishermen out at sea. Their bodies were found the next morning floating on the water or cast ashore on the beach."
Dr. Dave Jenkins, the founder of SurfAid International, a non-profit community health organisation which operates on the islands, said the destruction was likely to be worse than initially reported.
"We have staff in a lot of villages and we have boats out there. There's been a lot of more destruction and fatalities and people missing than has been reported, but we don't know the (latest) official figures," he told AFP.
"These islands are extremely remote. There are no roads and there are no phones in a lot of places," he said, adding that the government was not well equipped to respond to the disaster.
A group of Australians had a lucky escape when the wave surged into Macaronis Bay near a well-known tourist resort and threw them off their charter boat, which smashed into another boat and caught fire.
"The boats were smashed by the wave and one was set on fire and destroyed. Everyone was washed into the sea and clung onto debris from the resort," Jenkins said.
He said the tourists were washed inland and found their way back to the beach an hour or so later.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left early from a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Hanoi and was on his way to the islands to "feel the pain and burden of the victims", a spokesman said.
"President Yudhoyono is very concerned, psychologically and morally, about the situation in West Sumatra and also in Merapi," spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said.
Mount Merapi, a volcano in central Java island, erupted less than 24 hours after the Mentawai earthquake, killing at least 29 people, according to the latest official toll.
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