Thousands Evacuating Over Fears of More Tsunamis in Indonesia
JOHNS: In Indonesia, warnings are now elevated as volcanic eruptions continue days after the volcano caused a tsunami that left hundreds dead. The government evacuating thousands from islands in the Sunda Strait as fears rise of another tsunami. CNN's Alexandra Field has the latest live from Hong Kong.</s>ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe, an absolutely devastating year for Indonesia. It's been just two months since these tsunami killed 2,000 people, now hundreds more killed in another tsunami on Saturday and fears mounting about the possibility of more tsunamis to come. That's because experts are seeing increased volcanic activity at the volcano that triggered the last tsunami. There was a landslide followed by a volcanic eruption and then that 10-foot high wave that moved through the Sundra Strait. As they see more volcanic activity they fear this could happen again and that's why they're taking the precautionary step of moving thousands of people off of two islands within the Sundra Strait. They're taking them by vote farther inland to protect them if that wave surge does in fact come again. Ash is still spewing from this volcano. Enough that airplanes have been forced to route around that ash. And back on land, people are being asked to wear masks and goggles because of the heavy ash in the air. All of it a grim reminder of the dangers posed by this volcano. At the same time rescue work continues. The death toll now standing at 430 in the aftermath of Saturday's disaster -- Joe.</s>JOHNS: Thanks for that, Alexandra Field, in Hong Kong.</s>ROMANS: All right. On Wall Street, did you miss this, folks? A stunning rally? The Dow soars 1,000 points. That's almost 5 percent. Here is how the rest of the world is responding right now. You can see Tokyo with its own sizeable rally. The Shanghai in Hong Kong lower. And watching European shares. A kind of a tepid response to that big rally on Wall Street. Futures, U.S. futures right now are a little bit lower. The Dow posted its biggest daily point gain ever. The S&P 500 also rose 5 percent Wednesday. The Nasdaq rallied 5.8 percent pulling out of the bear market. This was the biggest percentage gain for all three averages since March 2009. Now even after Wednesday's rally, the month is still on pace for the worst December since 1931. Investors are on pace for their worst stock market returns in a decade. But at least yesterday investors said hey, wait, we're priced in a recession. No one sees a recession in the months ahead. The near-term months ahead. So maybe things were overdone. Iconic retailer Penney's earned its nickname yesterday. JCPenney shares fell below $1 for the first time since it started trading in 1929. The 110-year-old department store has not been profitable since 2010. It has $4 billion in debt.