At least 112 people were killed and 502 others were missing when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Sumatra and triggered a devastating tsunami.

Henri Dori Satoko, the head of the Mentawai Islands parliament said in an interview some of the missing may include people who are still unaccounted for after having fled to higher grounds. He also added a village with a population of 200 have been swept away in the monstrous waves of the tsunami, out of whom only 40 have been rescued so far.

Although communications in the remote areas of West Sumatra has been a disappointment, but eye witnesses claimed the height of the waves to be 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) high, but other reports describe the tsunami as 10 feet or 3 meters in height.

The earthquake struck at 9:42 pm on Monday and according to the U.S geological survey, its epicentre was 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Padang, at a depth of 20.6 kilometres (12.8 miles), and had a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 in the Richter- scale.

The area where the hammer-strike was the hardest was the Mentawai islands, and the Pegai islands have been affected too.

Gayat, a spokesman for Indonesian Red Cross assessment team said in an exclusive interview that a rescue team has been sent, but they were forced to retreat because of the high seas, and debris in the water. She also mentioned that the team will retry their mission on Wednesday morning.

Satoko threw some lights on the situation of eight to ten Australians on board a tourist vessel, who have been feared missing, were reported to be safe and out of danger.
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