Tsunami on Indonesia's Java coast kills over 200

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia, July 18: A tsunami triggered by a strong undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Java island killed 226 people, swept away buildings and damaged hundreds of fishing boats, officials and witnesses said.

News of the disaster yesterday spread panic across a region still recovering from a tsunami less than two years ago in which nearly 230,000 people were killed or reported missing, mostly in Indonesia. But there were no reports of casualties or damage in any other country from yesterday's tsunami.

''There are over 200 people dead from 10 regencies, 148 people are injured and 127 still missing,'' said Putu Suryawan, the official at the Indonesian Red Cross disaster centre, adding that 2,875 people had been displaced from their homes.

''Possibly this number could rise because many people are still missing.'' Waves up to 1.5 metres high crashed into Pangandaran beach near the town of Ciamis, 270 km southeast of Jakarta, killing 46 people in Ciamis and another 46 in the central Java port of Cilacap, Suryawan said.

Another Red Cross official, Fitri Sidikah, said around 650 fishing boats had been damaged. ''We are going to send body bags, tents and other equipment,'' she said.

A local official, Rudi Supriatna Bahro, told Metro TV up to half a kilometre (550 yards) from the beach was affected by the tsunami, with flimsily constructed buildings flattened. ''We need tents, food and medical aid.'' In the Pangandaran medical clinic in todaya's the early hours, several victims' bodies were laid out on the floor covered by cloth.

A police officer told Reuters TV there were about 40 bodies in all in the clinic.

A 40-year-old Belgian tourist called Ian, who did not give a last name, said he was in a bar when suddenly water rushed in, knocking him unconscious. He woke up in the clinic, he said.

''I was drinking at the bar. The sea wall came after me ... I was thinking this is the end,'' said Ian.

FLATTENED 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,'' he said.

Indonesia's official Antara news agency reported deaths had occurred at two other beach resorts in Java.

''The search is still going on to find those who probably have been swept away by the tsunami waves,'' Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose mainly Muslim country is the world's fourth most populous, told reporters.

Sweden's Foreign Ministry said two Swedish children from a holidaying family were believed to be missing. There were no immediate reports of other non-Indonesians dead or missing.

The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.7. Indonesia's state meteorology and geophysics agency said the quake's strength was 6.8 on the Richter Scale.

''RING OF FIRE''

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''.

A tsunami warning for Java's southern coast and nearby Christmas Island was issued by the Pacific 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 southwest of India, also issued a warning.

The December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was triggered by a massive earthquake. Nearly 170,000 people were killed or reported missing in Indonesia's Aceh province. Tens of thousands died elsewhere, the majority in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

Reuters

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