Nursina never imagined the canon-like explosion she heard following a 7.2-magnitude quake that struck her home in Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, would herald the last time she saw her son and parents.

A few seconds later, she witnessed a 3-meter-tall wall of water sweep the shore, just 100 meters from her house in Muntei Baru-Baru in North Pagai district.

“I carried my 2-year-old daughter and followed my husband and our two other children to the hill to avoid the tsunami,” she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday at a poorly built refugee camp on the hill some 300 meters from her flattened village.

She survived along with her husband Rentinus and their three children.

The tsunami, the biggest in Sumatra since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Aceh, claimed the lives of her son and parents. They were swept away and found dead two days after the disaster struck Monday night.

Nursina’s suffering, however, is far from over. Almost a week after the tsunami, rescuers and aid workers still face great difficulty reaching 26 tsunami-hit villages scattered in the four main districts of the Mentawai Islands.

On Saturday, many survivors of the disaster, in which 413 died and another 163 remain missing, were left waiting for food and other supplies as violent storms grounded most relief aid distribution.

Some of those injured by the towering waves — including a 12-year-old girl with an open chest wound — were suffering without enough painkillers and could die if they weren’t evacuated, doctors told The Associated Press at one hospital.

A boat carrying food aid and an electricity generator flipped over with 10 people on board on its way to Sikakap. No casualties were reported in the incident and all of the crew were picked up by passing boats.

“I’ve been in this refugee camp for almost six days and I only have the clothes on my back,” the 24 year old said.

Apart from clothes, she added, refugees in the camp were also in dire need of blankets to survive the chilly nights on the hill.

Marni, another survivor in the camp, lost four family members — her father, brother, sister and nephew — in the disaster.

The 38-year-old woman said that after the quake struck, they stayed home to check for tsunami warnings on television before deciding to run to the hill.

“But just several minutes after the quake, we heard a loud bang from the sea and saw a wave as high as a coconut tree sweep the shore,” the mother of two said.

She said her mother and mother-in-law broke their legs and were at Sikakap district community health center.

The Sikakap Disaster Mitigation Agency said the tsunami had killed 103 people and left 77 others missing in the worst-hit Muntei Baru-Baru village alone. The disaster also left 62 residents injured.

Village chief Jersaneus Samaloisa said many survivors in the area, mainly women and children, were traumatized by the disaster. Some, he added, were afraid to return to the village.

“The trauma was compounded by the poor condition of the refugee shelter,” Jersaneus said, adding that the 132 survivors had to stay in several tents with very limited food and other necessities.

The camp, he said, had only two small kerosene stoves, forcing refugees to cook using firewood.

The shelter also has no toilets or sanitation system, forcing survivors to go the river to bathe and wash their clothes.

“We face a potential of dengue fever outbreak since the hill is infested with mosquitoes and we have no mosquito nets,” he said.

The families of six foreign tourists posted on the Internet that they had lost contact with their relatives, who were believed to be vacationing in Mentawai before the tsunami struck.

West Sumatra Surfing Boat Association head Aim Zein identified the six foreigners as two French, three New Zealand and an American national.

“Their families informed us they had lost contact with them. The missing tourists last communicated [with their families] before leaving for Mentawai,” Aim told the Post on Saturday.

One of the anxious family members, Roxane, said two relatives, Yannick Couty and Axele Madelaine, arrived in Mentawai on Oct. 14 for a three-week holiday. “We have no news at all. Please, if you have any information, contact me,” she said in a post that included photos of the two.

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