Tsunami warning system was broken

The number of people killed in the tsunami in Indonesia has increased to 343 people, 34 people have died because of the Merapi volcano and there are still 338 people missing on October 28.

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Disaster response officials added that many of the victims' bodies were found on beaches and coastal areas along the Mentawai archipelago, where a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the night of October 25.

The bodies of tsunami victims were found on North Pagai Island on October 27. (Photo: AFP)

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on October 28 visited the tsunami-hit places on the Mentawai Islands.

On the same day, a relief ship and body bag arrived at North Pagai Island, one of the two islands most severely affected by the tsunami. AFP correspondent said hundreds of injured people are being treated at a local health facility.

The number of casualties escalating amid questions about the effectiveness of the tsunami warning system created after the tsunami in late 2004.

According to the AFP news agency, a tsunami warning was issued after the earthquake but either a warning came too late or it did not reach the communities most at risk.

Borinte, a survivor of North Pagai Island, told AFP news agency: ' About 10 minutes after the earthquake, we heard a loud sound like thunder.

We ran out and saw the tsunami coming. We tried to run to higher ground but the tsunami moved faster than us . '

According to the BBC (UK), locals know nothing about tsunamis because part of the tsunami warning system has stopped working.

Ridwan Jamaluddin, an official of the Indonesia Technology Assessment and Application Agency, said the two buoys of the tsunami warning system off the Mentawai Islands were damaged so they could not work. He said: ' We did not say they were damaged but were destroyed. These devices are very expensive . '

Meanwhile, the number of people killed by volcano Merapi on the island of Java has increased by at least 34 people. More than 50,000 people left their homes to go to emergency shelters in nearby Yogyakarta.

Even so, there are still thousands of people who refused to evacuate before the Merapi volcano erupted on October 26, and it is feared the number of casualties may increase.