Rescuers battled rough seas yesterday to reach remote Indonesian islands hit by a 10-foot tsunami that swept away homes, killing at least 113 people.

Scores more were missing and information was only beginning to trickle in from the sparsely populated surfing destination, so casualties were expected to rise.

The fault that ruptured in an earthquake on Monday on Sumatra Island's coast also caused the 2004 quake and Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Though hundreds of disaster officials were unable to get to many of the villages on the Mentawai islands - a 12-hour boat ride away - they were preparing for the worst.

"We have 200 body bags on the way, just in case," said a spokesman from the Health Ministry's crisis center.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire - a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

The country's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, 1,300 kilometers to the east, started to erupt at dusk yesterday as scientists warned that pressure beneath its lava dome could trigger one of the most powerful blasts in years.

The 7.7-magnitude quake that struck late Monday just 20 kilometers beneath the ocean floor was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, according to the US Geological Survey.

Many panicked residents fled to high ground and were too afraid to return home.

That could account in part for the more than 500 people still missing, said Hendri Dori, a local parliamentarian. "We're trying to stay hopeful," he said.

Hundreds of homes were washed away on the island of Pagai, with water flooding crops and roads up to 600 meters inland.

In Muntei Baru, a village on Silabu Island, 80 percent of the houses were badly damaged, local officials said.

Those and other islets hit are part of the Mentawai island chain, a popular and surfing spot 280 kilometers from Sumatra.

A group of Australians were on their surfing vessel, anchored in a bay, when the earthquake struck. It generated a wave that caused them to hit a neighboring boat, setting fire to their cabin.

"We threw whatever we could that floated, then we jumped into the water," Rick Hallet told Australia's Nine Network. "We just washed into the wetlands, and scrambled up the highest trees that we could possibly find."

Crews from several ships were still unaccounted for in the Indian Ocean.

The quake also jolted towns along Sumatra's western coast - including Padang, which last year was hit by a deadly 7.6-magnitude tremor that killed more than 700 people. Mosques blared tsunami warnings over their loudspeakers.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• remote [ri´məut] a.遥远的；偏僻的 (初中英语单词)
• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
• indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
• disaster [di´zɑ:stə] n.灾难，不幸 (初中英语单词)
• unable [ʌn´eibəl] a.不能的；无能为力的 (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
• western [´westən] a.西的；西方的 (初中英语单词)
• pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
• survey [´sə:vei] vt.&n.俯瞰；审视；测量 (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)
• neighboring [´neibəriŋ] a.邻近的；接壤的 (初中英语单词)
• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
• deadly [´dedli] a.致命的 ad.死一般地 (初中英语单词)
• destination [,desti´neiʃən] n.目标地 (高中英语单词)
• earthquake [´ə:θkweik] n.地震；大变动 (高中英语单词)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
• location [ləu´keiʃən] n.定位；位置；地方 (高中英语单词)
• so-called [´sou ´kɔ:ld] a.所谓的，号称的 (高中英语单词)
• pacific [pə´sifik] a.和平的；温和的 (高中英语单词)
• volcano [vɔl´keinəu] n.火山 (高中英语单词)
• inland [´inlənd, in´lænd] a.&n.内地的 ad.在内地 (高中英语单词)
• trickle [´trikəl] v.滴下 n.点滴；细流 (英语四级单词)
• volcanic [vɔl´kænik] a.(象)火山的；爆发的 (英语四级单词)
• hemisphere [´hemisfiə] n.半球；范围，领域 (英语四级单词)
• southeast [,sauθ´i:st] n.&a.东南(方) (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
• setting [´setiŋ] n.安装；排字；布景 (英语四级单词)
• network [´netwə:k] n.网状物 vt.联播 (英语四级单词)
• spokesman [´spəuksmən] n.发言人 (英语六级单词)
• trigger [´trigə] n.扳机 vt.触发，启动 (英语六级单词)
• geological [dʒiə´lɔdʒikəl] a.地质学的 (英语六级单词)