Indonesia rescue efforts continue

Homes were swept away as villagers slept

Hundreds of people initially unaccounted for after floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Nias have been found alive, but about 200 are still missing.

More than 30 bodies have been found as rescue and clean-up efforts continue.

Nias district head Binahati Baeha told Reuters news agency: "We found hundreds of villagers who had fled to nearby hills because of floods."

The landslides struck early on Tuesday morning as most villagers were still asleep.

They followed days of heavy rain and three earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.3 to 5.4 on the Richter scale.

Emergency medical and food supplies have been flown in from the city of Medan, the provincial capital of North Sumatra.

As an Indonesian naval ship was reported to be on its way to evacuate those whose homes had been swept away, hundreds of police and troops helped villagers dig through the mud in the search for survivors and bodies.

Nias floods

At least 30 dead

200 missing

600 found alive

1,500 homeless

Nias Police Commander General Kusnanto said that at least 1,500 people had been left homeless by the disaster.

He said that there was no heavy equipment on the island and that blocked roads and flooded rivers were slowing down the rescue teams.

Nias only has one small airstrip and it takes at least eight hours to reach the island from the nearest major port in Sumatra.

The rain was still falling on Thursday but correspondents say the floodwaters have largely subsided.

Nias is known as a surfing paradise

Hundreds of people die in flooding and landslides in Indonesia every year.

Environmental campaigners say that villagers and logging companies cutting down swathes of forests contribute to the problem.

Nias attracts hundreds of foreign tourists - mostly surfers from Australia and Japan - but officials said the tourists did not frequent the areas hit by the floods.