Police Warn of Second Tsunami from Indonesian Volcano as Death Toll Rises

Tanjung Lesung, MINA — The death toll from the Indonesian tsunami has risen to 281, while authorities are warning people to stay away because of the risk of another tsunami, Brisbane Times reported.

Another 1016 people have been injured and 57 are missing and and more than 11,000 displaced according to new figures released on Monday.

Those figures are likely to rise considerably again, because data from some of the areas hit by the tsunami is still being collected.

The hardest hit areas include Carita and Tanjung Lesung, both popular tourist destinations, on the island of Java, and Lampung on the island of Sumatra.

Heavy rain battered the Javanese coastline overnight and on into Monday morning, making conditions more difficult for the rescue workers, police and army who are pouring into the disaster zone.

The spokesman for disaster agency BNPB, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, warned on Monday that, “People should stay away from the beaches” because of the risk of another tsunami.

A violent eruption by the Anak Krakatoa volcano at about 9pm on Saturday night is thought to have triggered an underwater landslide that in turn triggered the tsunami about 30 minutes later.

Anak Krakatoa, or the “child of Krakatoa” has been erupting intermittently for months and there is a chance that another eruption could trigger another tsunami in the area.

Anak Krakatoa began to emerge from the ocean in 1927, 44 years after the huge eruption of the original Krakatoa volcano which killed more than 30,000 people and played havoc with global temperatures and crops.

STILL APPEAR BUT ABANDONED

Many of the beachside villages along the Javanese coastline still appeared all but abandoned on Monday.

A tsunami has killed over 200 people on the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra and injured hundreds more following an underwater landslide caused by a volcanic eruption.

Sutopo added that Indonesian authorities were sending more heavy machinery as what had been sent already was not sufficient to deal with the massive destruction.

In the beachside village of Sambolo, one of the hardest-hit areas, at least a dozen cars lay by the roadside, flipped on their side or crushed by debris.

At the Villa Stephanie, six cars sat side-by-side, damaged but not destroyed at the abandoned villa, which took heavy damage from the wave.

Sutopo said the casualties had been found in five affected districts, namely Pandeglang, Serang, South Lampung, Tanggamus and Pesawaran.

Thousands of joint personnel from the police, army, search and rescue agency and various non-government organisations were involved in the effort, Sutopo said.

Heavy equipment was deployed, some from Jakarta about three hours away, to help the excavation.

Indonesia has endured a dreadful year already in terms of natural disasters, with the resort island of Lombok hard hit by a series of earthquakes in August.

The Sulawesi city of Palu was then smashed by an earthquake and tsunami in late September.

The damage in places like Carita and Tanjung Lesung is severe, and these are populated areas too, but, relatively speaking, the damage from the two disasters earlier this year
appears to have been more severe.

President Joko Widodo is expected to visit the disaster zone, which is just over 100km from the capital of Jakarta, later on Monday. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)