Tsunami death toll rises to 281
Indonesian rescuers use bare hands, diggers to search for survivors, haul debris
CARITA, Indonesia (WSJ/ Reuters/AFP) – Thousands of emergency workers combed through the wreckage of hotels, houses and cars Monday and recovered the bodies of more victims of a tsunami, bringing the toll to at least 281 people killed, as Indonesia grappled with the latest in a string of deadly disasters.
The tsunami, which officials believe was caused by a landslide triggered by the eruption of a volcano Saturday night, hammered both sides of the Sunda Strait, a narrow passage between the islands of Sumatra and Java in Indonesia.
Indonesian rescuers raced to find survivors Monday with experts warning the devastated region could be slammed by more deadly waves.
Rescue teams used their bare hands, diggers and other heavy equipment to haul debris from the stricken area around the Sunda Strait, as thousands were evacuated to higher ground.
The powerful tsunami struck without any warning on Saturday night, sweeping over popular beaches of southern Sumatra and the western tip of Java and inundating
tourist hotels and coastal settlements.
More than 1,000 people were injured and the death toll ''will continue to rise,'' said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave that left a tangled mess of corrugated steel roofing, timber and rubble at Carita beach, a popular spot for day-trippers on the west coast of Java.
''The military and police are searching the ruins to see if we can find more victims,'' said Dody Ruswandi, a senior official at the disaster agency, adding that the rescue effort was likely to last a week.
Most of the victims were killed by a wave around 10 feet high in some places that crashed into the coastline about 24 minutes after the eruption of Anak Krakatau, or Child of Krakatau, a 1,000foot mountain in the middle of the strait that hangs above millions of people who live on the shore.
The volcano's constant rumblings could be heard Monday on shore as heavy rains lashed the area. President Joko Widodo visited to show support to the more than 10,000 people displaced by the disaster.
The tsunami struck with stunning swiftness. Riefian Fajarsyah, lead singer of local pop band Seventeen, had just finished the second song of the set before a crowd of vacationing electric-company workers when the wave hit without warning, smashing through the bandstand.
"Some of us were thrown to land and some were pulled toward the sea," Fajarsyah said outside a trauma center on Sunday. "I myself was towed away by the current to the sea, about [15 to 30 feet]. I was trying with all my might to get to land."
Bodies were strewn about, including those of a comedian at the show and the master of ceremonies, amid the panic.
At least two members of the band and 14 spectators were killed by the wave, officials said. Fajarsyah was still looking for his wife, Dylan Sahara, who had been in the audience, and his bandmates. "I hope there will still be good news," he said.
The Javanese coastline, about a three-hour drive from Jakarta, was buzzing with Indonesian tourists before the eruption, many of them there to enjoy the sandy beaches and local food on a holiday weekend before Christmas. The worstaffected area was the Pandeglang region of western Java's Banten province, which encompasses the Ujung Kulon National Park, known as a sanctuary for the rare single-horned rhinoceros.
A Wall Street Journal reporter who arrived late Saturday with his wife and two children on a vacation found the roads partially flooded. Coconuts usually sold at roadside stalls were scattered across the streets.
Further down the road, people screamed, telling drivers to turn around just before a wall of water washed over the area. The reporter turned down a side road as water and debris smashed into the side of the vehicle, pushing it off course. His 5-year-old son asked if they were going to die.
Later that night, around 300 people took shelter at a government forestry compound, among them a woman whose husband was missing and a man whose wife was killed when she was buried in the wreckage of their hotel. The man, who said he had rescued his son, was wearing nothing but his underwear, the rest of his clothes abandoned as he fled.
While the water in most places along the coast rose no more than about 3 feet, authorities said 556 houses and nine hotels were damaged and at least 843 people were injured.
At one of the worst-hit hotels, Villa Stephanie, twisted metal was strewn across what was once the lawn. The carcasses of six cars were piled up sideby-side, pushed together by floodwater and rammed into a building. A few hardy old men remained, smoking cigarettes in the rubble.
Officials ordered terrified residents to stay away from the shoreline in case a new eruption from the volcano unleashed another tsunami. Thousands sought shelter from intermittent rains.
The volcano, which has been erupting since June, is growing at as much as 20 feet a year and had been spewing lava in the days before the tsunami.
Its geological parent, the infamous volcano known as Krakatoa, was obliterated by an eruption in 1883 that was one of the greatest natural disasters of the modern age, generating a 100-foot tsunami and spewing enough ash to cause temperatures to fall around the world for years. The blast, historians say, may have been the loudest sound ever heard, audible nearly 3,000 miles away.
Volcanologists say Anak Krakatau, which is literally growing from the ashes of its deceased parent, is likely to eventually generate another massive explosion, though it could be another 100 years or more before it does.
Landslide a likely trigger
A large chunk of the southern flank of the volcanic Anak Krakatau island may have slipped into the ocean just minutes before a tsunami hit an Indonesian shore, killing hundreds of people, scientists said on Monday.
Scientists said on Monday that the consensus, based on satellite images and the information available, was that the collapse of a portion of the volcano triggered the killer waves.
Images captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellite showed that a large portion on the southern flank of the volcano slid off into the ocean.
“Underwater landside is the leading theory,” said Sam Taylor-Offord, a seismologist at GNS Science in Wellington.
“So when that land pushes into the ocean... it displaces the ocean surface causing the vertical displacement that causes the tsunami,” he said, adding however that the lack of data and access made it impossible to ascertain this theory.
Taylor-Offord said the eruption and “high noise environment” may be why the landslide was not recorded seismically.
The fact the tsunami was triggered by a volcano, and not by an earthquake, may be the reason why no tsunami warning was signaled, scientists said.
Coastal residents reported not seeing or feeling any warning signs, such as an earthquake or receding water along the shore, before waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) high surged in.