A tsunami triggered by a strong undersea earthquake off the southern coast of Java island swept away buildings at an Indonesian beach resort on Monday and killed at least 80 people, a Red Cross official said.
”Our latest data shows 80 people have died while at least 68 are badly injured. The number can climb because many may have been swept away by the waves,” said Fitri Sidikah, an official at the Indonesian Red Cross disaster centre.
News of the disaster spread panic across a region still recovering from a tsunami less than two years ago that left nearly 230 000 people dead or missing, mostly in Indonesia. But there were no reports of casualties or damage in any other country from Monday’s tsunami.
Waves up 1,5m high crashed into Pangandaran Beach near Indonesia’s Ciamis town, 270km south-east of Jakarta. A local official said 37 people had been killed, and the toll could rise.
”We have evacuated 37 dead bodies. The number could grow because when we went to the shore, rescuers were trying to evacuate more bodies,” Rudi Supriatna Bahro told Metro TV.
For the country as a whole, Robert Simatupang from the Indonesian Red Cross told Reuters earlier: ”The data from our temporary assessment is fatalities at around 40 to 50. The numbers who are still missing are just under 100.”
”There are many areas where electricity and telecommunications cannot function. It is quite hard now to reach the locations.” he added.
Ciamis councillor Bahro said areas up to half a kilometre from the beach were affected, with flimsily constructed buildings flattened.
”We need tents, food and medical aid for the displaced.”
The country’s official Antara news agency reported several deaths had also occurred at two other beach resorts in Java.
”An earthquake has happened and then was followed by a tsunami on the southern coast of Ciamis [regency],” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier told reporters.
”… The search is still going on to find those who probably have been swept away by the tsunami waves.”
A tsunami warning for Java’s southern coast and nearby Christmas Island was issued by the United States-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. Police on Christmas Island, an Australian territory south of Indonesia, said there was no damage there.
India also issued a warning for the Andaman and Nicobar islands, badly hit by the 2004 tsunami, but officials said there was no real threat. The Maldives, a low-lying chain of islands to the south-west of India, also issued a warning.
A massive earthquake in December 2004 triggered a tsunami that left nearly 170 000 people killed or missing in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Tens of thousands died elsewhere, the majority in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
Washed away
Pangandaran, the area that appeared to receive the brunt of Monday’s tsunami, is a popular local tourist spot with many small hotels on the beach and is close to a nature reserve.
The waves washed away wooden cottages and kiosks lining the shoreline facing the Indian Ocean, witnesses said.
”When the waves came, I heard people screaming and then I heard something like a plane about to crash nearby and I just ran,” Uli Sutarli, a plantation worker who was on Pangandaran beach, told Reuters by telephone.
”All wooden structures are flattened to the ground but hotel buildings made out of concrete are still standing. There is rubbish everywhere,” he added.
Hendri Subakti, head seismologist at the West Java earthquake centre, said the waves were a maximum of 1,5m high, although some witnesses talked of waves up to 5m.
Some people were still fleeing the coastal area hours later as rumours spread that there could be another quake and tsunami.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had said the quake, which hit at 8.19am GMT, was of 7,2 magnitude.
Indonesia’s state meteorology and geophysics agency initially rated the quake at 5,5 magnitude, but later changed that to 6,8, and said there were two significant aftershocks.
An official at the country’s main fixed line operator, Telkom, said the phone system in the area was down.
Some occupants of high-rise Jakarta buildings felt the quake, which hit more than 40km under the Indian Ocean and was centred 180km off Pangandaran beach, and fled their offices.
Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country. In May, an earthquake near the central Java city of Yogyakarta killed more than 5 700 people.
Indonesia’s 17 000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the ”Pacific Ring of Fire”. — Reuters