Indonesia, Natural Disaster | featured news

An earthquake that struck rural Indonesia left at least four people dead, authorities said Sunday. At least seven others were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. The 6.6-magnitude hit Saturday near the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A strong earthquake off Indonesia's coast caused tall buildings to sway in the capital Monday afternoon, but officials said there was no threat of a tsunami. Office workers said the swaying was felt for about 10 seconds in high-rise buildings around the city of 9 million people. Even two-story residential homes shook strongly. No damage or casualties were immediately reported.

Residents surveying damage from two powerful earthquakes that reignited memories of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami said Thursday they could hardly believe their luck. Five people died from heart attacks, and a few others were injured as mobs used cars and motorcycles to flee to high ground in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh – closest to the epicenters.

Indonesia has issued a fresh tsunami warning after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.

Nearly 1,000 residents have fled two villages near an Indonesian volcano that has been erupting this week.

Disaster officials say the death toll from a tsunami that barreled into several remote Indonesian islands one week ago has climbed to 449.

Relief planes dropped boxes of dried noodles onto tsunami-ravaged Indonesian islands Friday because storms and a shortage of vessels made helicopter and boat deliveries almost impossible days after the wave killed more than 400 people.

Indonesia's Mount Merapi erupted on Thursday for the second time in a week, blasting vast plumes of ash into the sky, as the death toll from the initial eruption and a tsunami that hit remote western islands reached 377.

Rescuers battled rough seas Tuesday to reach remote Indonesian islands pounded by a 10-foot tsunami that swept away homes, killing at least 113 people... Also Tuesday, the country's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, 800 miles to the east, started to erupt at dusk as scientists warned that pressure building beneath its lava dome could trigger one of the most powerful blasts in years.

Earthquake monitoring agencies issued a tsunami warning on Monday after a powerful tremor measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale under the sea off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island.