Tsunami sets off panic in southern Java
Jakarta (AsiaNews) Thousands of residents of the southern Indonesian provinces of Central Java and Java West are fleeing after a tsunami was triggered by an underwater quake off the coast of Jakarta. So far 37 people have been reported killed, but in a public statement Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the death toll is only provisional. Search and rescue operations are still underway.
The seaquake was set off by an earthquake that measured 7.2 on the Richter scale some 355 kilometres south of Jakarta at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
A two-metre wave hit the coastal region near Cilacap, a tourist resort where state-owned Pertamina Oil Company has important facilities, and the beach town of Pangandaran, which is
State-owned TV was able to broadcast eyewitness accounts of the disaster from the affected area. Teddy, a survivor, said that "people panicked right away. Waves wiped out all the food stands and houses along the beach".
In both resorts traffic is heavy and in one direction: out. People are fleeing for higher and safer ground leaving everything behind.
"Everyone ion Pangandaran is scared to death," said Iwan, a local resident. "Hotels, bungalows, villas, bars have been swept away by the sea. People are running away unconcerned about their property, running for their lives."
Today's tsunami is a reminder of the December 26, 2004, tragedy that struck several countries around the Indian Ocean, especially Indonesia which suffered more than 140,000 dead.
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