Baby found under a pile of debris, while the mother lost her life A local rescuer rushed the baby and her grandmother to a nearby health facility JAKARTA: Stories about babies miraculously surviving harrowing ordeals often emerge amid tales of natural disasters and the volcano-triggered tsunami that swamped beaches on the rim of Indonesia"s Sunda Strait is no exception. Footage of a two-month-old baby being rescued from beneath a pile of rubble has gone viral on social media over the past week. The footage was captured by a local volunteer working with youth disaster management team Tagana. Abu Salim recorded footage of himself taking an elderly women cradling her grandchild to a health facility at a nearby beach. “I was driving along the coast to remove bodies from Sambolo beach when a group of people asked me to take an elderly woman and a baby to the nearest healthcare facility,” Salim told Arab News. “They hopped aboard and I took them a center in Carita. Debris and rubble are still strewn along the coast and workers continue to clear them off the beaches, while we continue to evacuate victims.” The rescue operation came hours after floods inundated the area the night before. Both beaches are in Banten’s Pandeglang district, which was the most affected by the tsunami. The baby had been found lying next to the body of his mother, while there is no information about the father. In the clip posted online, Salim can be heard whispering in Indonesian: “Please be strong, kiddo, please be strong. This baby is still alive. Oh God, I hope the baby survives.” A clip shared by Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman at Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, on his Twitter account a few days ago shows a police officer consoling a boy who lost his parents and siblings in the tsunami that hit their home in Lampung Selatan, across the strait from Pandeglang. Nugroho wrote under the Tweet that Adit, who was in the provincial capital, Bandar Lampung, to take part in a national football competition, was the sole survivor from among his family. The police officer is filmed hugging the boy and encouraging him to stay strong while stroking his back and hair. “Keep up your spirit and send prayers to your parents and siblings,” the police officer said, while Adit weakly nodded his head. The tsunami triggered by the volcanic eruptions of Mount Anak Krakatau between Java and Sumatra island has killed 431 people, while 7,200 were injured and 15 remain missing, according to Nugroho. “Almost 47,000 people from five districts affected by the tsunami in Banten and Lampung provinces have been displaced,” he said. “Shelters become overcrowded by nightfall, as many of the displaced visit their homes during the day to salvage what is left of the wreckage.”