Indonesia Tsunami: At Least 373 Killed, Over 1400 Injured

Local Editor

The spokesman for Indonesia’s natural disaster agency has said the country must develop a new tsunami early warning system, as the death toll from Saturday’s tragedy rose to more than 373.

Hundreds of military personnel and volunteers spent Monday scouring debris-strewn beaches in search of survivors as experts warned of more tsunamis following the volcanic eruption that caused the deadly wave in western Java.

The tsunami death toll has risen to 373 people, as more than 1,400 had been injured on the islands of Java and Sumatra, an official said late Monday.

“1,459 people are injured, while 128 remain missing,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, said in a statement.

Earlier on Monday morning, the nation’s disaster agency said 281 people had died and at least 1,016 people were injured. More than 600 homes were damaged, as well as 60 shops and 420 vessels.

The tsunami was believed to have been caused by the eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano, which partially collapsed, creating an underwater landslide.

Nugroho, the head spokesman for the agency, said Indonesia had no early warning system for landslides or volcanic eruptions.

“The current early warning system is for earthquake activity,” he wrote on Twitter. “Indonesia must build an early warning system for tsunamis that are generated by underwater landslides & volcanic eruptions… [Landslides] triggered the 1992 Maumere tsunami and the Palu 2018 tsunami.”

He also said Indonesia’s tsunami buoy network had “not been operational since 2012”.

“Vandalism, a limited budget, and technical damage mean there were no tsunami buoys at this time. They need to be rebuilt to strengthen the Indonesian tsunami early warning system.”

Sutopo said on Twitter that Anak Krakatau had erupted “almost every day” over the past three months and that Saturday’s “was not the biggest eruption”.

“Anak Krakatau has been erupting since June 2018 until now,” he said. “Yesterday’s eruption was not the biggest. The October-November 2018 period had a larger eruption.”

The death toll is expected to rise. Sixteen-hundred people have also been displaced.

Dody Ruswandi, a senior official at the disaster agency, added that the rescue effort was likely to last a week.

Sutopo warned locals to stay away from the coast.

“People should not carry out activities on the beach and stay away from the coast for a while,” he told reporters.

University of Queensland volcanologist Teresa Ubide said Anak Krakatau had been erupting for the past few months, which was not unusual.

“It seems like the volcano is active at the moment and it may happen again,” Ubide told the Guardian.

She said it would be difficult to predict further tsunamis and to provide timely warnings because in this case there was a lack of seismic activity or earthquakes in the lead up.

“The volcano is very close to the shoreline so … there wouldn’t be much time to warn [people] because it’s close and the tsunamis can travel very fast,” she said.

Richard Teeuw of the University of Portsmouth in England said sonar surveys were needed to map the seafloor around the volcano but that work usually took months.

“The likelihood of further tsunamis in the Sunda Strait will remain high while Anak Krakatau volcano is going through its current active phase because that might trigger further submarine landslides,” Teeuw said.

Kathy Mueller from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told Agence France-Presse aid workers were helping evacuate injured people, bring in clean water and tarpaulins, and provide shelter.

She said the group was preparing for the possibility of diseases breaking out in the tsunami zone, adding: “The situation, and the death toll, will remain fluid over the next days and even weeks.”

The water washed away an outdoor stage where a local rock band, Seventeen, were performing, killing their bassist and manager. Other people who had been watching the band on the beach were missing.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team