Tsunami death toll ‘likely to grow’
At least 62 people are dead and more than 600 have been injured after a tsunami hit beaches around Sunda Strait in Indonesia late on Saturday, the government’s Disaster Mitigation Agency says.
Hundreds of homes and buildings have been damaged and two people are missing, while the death toll is ‘‘likely to grow,’’ said the agency’s Sutopo Purwo Nugroho in a tweet.
Early figures from the agency indicate the victims so far were from three regions, namely Pandeglang, South Lampung and Serang.
The agency said the tsunami was possibly caused by landslides due to the eruption of Krakatoa and tidal waves due to the full moon.
The two combinations caused a sudden tsunami that hit the coast,’’ the agency said.
The head of the agency Endan Permana told Metro TV police were providing immediate assistance to victims in Tanjung Lesung in Banten province, a popular tourist getaway not far from Jakarta, as emergency workers had not arrived in the area yet.
‘‘Many are missing,’’ he said. According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the tsunami hit several areas of the Sunda Strait without warning, including beaches in Pandeglang regency, Serang, and South Lampung.
Oystein Lund Andersen, an employee of the Norwegian embassy in Jakarta, was on holidays in Anyer, on the Javanese coast with his family when the wave hit.
‘‘I was myself at the beach photographing the well known volcano – Anak-Krakatau, when I suddenly saw a big wave came,’’ he wrote in a Facebook post.
‘‘I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m inland. Next wave entered the hotel area where i was staying and downed cars on the road behind it. Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground trough forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of my the locals.
‘‘Authorities here are saying that this might in fact have been a tsunami caused by the activity of the volcanic eruption I was photographing.’’ – Fairfax