UPDATE 9.30pm: AT least nine Australians are missing after a powerful undersea earthquake struck a popular surfing area in Indonesia's west.

The Sumatran Surfarii's charter boat company says it has not been able to contact the Southern Cross since the 7.7-magnitude quake hit Kepulauan Mentawai, off Sumatra's west, at 9.42pm yesterday (1.42am AEDT today).

"There is one boat that we haven't been able to make contact with, the Southern Cross," Yuli, a staff member of the Padang-based company said.



"Among the passengers are nine Australian citizens."

The boat is skippered by Melbourne man Chris Scurrah and Japanese man Akinori Fujita, and is carrying eight others believed to be from Sydney's northern beaches, AAP reports.



The eight missing men are: Clifford Humphries, Gary Mountford, Christopher Papallo, Alexander McTaggart, Neil Cox, Jeffrey Annesley, Stephen Reynolds and Colin Steell.

The boat, due to return to the mainland next week, is not equipped with a satellite phone.



SurfAid's Mentawai Islands Program Manager Tom Plummer confirmed the boat was missing.

"It (Southern Cross) was close to the epicentre," he said.



"There are genuine fears."

Do you know anyone in the earthquake region? Contact us on 03 9292 1226 or email news@heraldsun.com.au

SurfAid founder Dave Jenkins said the company was trying to charter a plane to search the area for the Southern Cross.



"There's definitely been damage," he said.

"The tsunami went into the main surf locality of Macaroni Bay."

Toll expected to rise



Twenty-three people are dead and 167 missing, an official from Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency said.



The death toll was expected to climb with reports about damage and injuries just starting to trickle in.



Mujiharto, who heads the Health Ministry's crisis centre, said the tsunami washed away hundreds of houses in two coastal villages on Pagai and Silabu, part of the Mentawai Island chain.



"We have 200 body bags on the way, just in case," he said.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the Government was monitoring events very closely, adding however that authorities were also "very concerned" about the whereabouts of Southern Cross.

"The boat is carrying some eight to 10 Australians. Of course, it's possible that we simply have a telecommunications problem. The mobile phone system is down," Mr Rudd said.



Mr Rudd said he had been in contact with the Australian ambassador to Indonesia in Jakarta to ensure all efforts were being made to make contact with the vessel.



Hoping for contact

Chris Scurrah's father, Hal, said he had yet to hear from his son but hoped to have contact soon.



"My feeling is that he's possibly out of range, and hopefully he's all well," Hal Scurrah said.



"I keep watching news, and I keep trying to text him or contact him on Facebook. He'll have a laptop with him.



"Generally he's not out of contact for a long time because often they will go into a sheltered spot or into a local town for supplies. That's when they can make contact, too."



Chris Scurrah survived last year's deadly 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia, texting his family that he was running inland after the quake hit Padang, home to nearly a million people on the coast of Sumatra.



Confident of good news



The wife of missing former Pittwater mayor and New South Wales MP Alex McTaggart is confident that he and the other missing surfers have the necessary experience to survive, The Manly Daily reported.

“We haven’t heard yet and while it’s not looking good, I’m confident Alex and the others will come through it,” Denise McTaggart said today.



“I contacted the company that runs the boat they were on, the Southern Cross, but they haven’t had any contact with the boat for a few days.”



Nigel Annesley, whose father Jeffrey is among those missing, said the family was still waiting to hear any firm news, but he was confident the group would be alright.



“I just did five weeks over there, these things are part and parcel of that whole place, it’s so volatile,” he said.



Mrs McTaggart believes the men will survive whatever the tsunami throws at them.



“They’re all super-fit and super-healthy,” she said.



“And I know Alex can swim a long way.



“We’ve heard an Indonesian coast guard boat is on its way but it will take 10 to 12 hours to get there.



“Because they’re in a very remote area, we haven’t heard from Alex in days.



“But we’re hopeful their strength and fitness will see them through.



"The hardest thing is not knowing a damn thing.’‘

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: "The Embassy is continuing its efforts to contact the captain of a tourist boat which is understood to have been in the affected area when the earthquake occurred. There are between eight and 10 Australians on board this boat.



"These efforts have been hampered by poor telephone coverage and by the fact that the boat is reportedly not equipped with a satellite phone."



Other Aussies safe

Meanwhile, another Australian surf charter boat skipper has described how the tsunami hurtled towards him, lifted his boat four metres into the air and tossed it into a nearby boat, which burst into flames

Lee Clarke, the skipper of Freedom 3, says that for some unknown reason he woke up and was out on the deck looking at the moon when the drama began unfolding.

Read Lee Clarke's full account here

The rest of his six Australian surfing guests, mostly from Clovelly in Sydney, were all asleep downstairs.

“It was bizarre, I just lay down for about 10 minutes and I got up, I don’t know why I got up, just intuition and I looked out at the moon and just looked around, then it started to unfold,” Mr Clarke said.

“The water just started draining really hard and the anchor grounded. I looked and saw the tsunami breaking across the whole boat and before we knew it we were picked up and speared straight into the Midas (the other boat).

“I’d say (the wave was) four metres conservative. It came right over the top deck of the boat.

The bow of our vessel landed on the top deck of the Midas. We got catapulted.”

Mr Clarke estimates his boat was lifted three to four metres in the air before it smashed into the Midas, which burst into flames.

The Australians on the Midas were washed into the bay and swept 200 metres inland. Mr Clarke managed to save two of them in his boat.

Mr Clarke has been working in the Mentawai Islands for the past six years and he said this was by far the worst experience of his life. This was to have been his last trip of the season

If you have concerns for the welfare of family or friends in the Mentawi Islands, you should first seek to contact them directly, DFAT said.

If you are unable to contact them and still hold concerns for their welfare, you should call DFAT's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on (02) 6261-3305.

With AAP

Originally published as Former MP among nine missing