HUNDREDS DIE IN TSUNAMI HELL
HUNDREDS of people including holidaymakers were confirmed dead yesterday after a “volcano tsunami” struck along the shores of Indonesia’s Sunda Strait.
A deadly 20ft-high wall of water rushed inland smashing homes and sweeping away all in its path following an eruption of Anak Krakatoa.
Some 222 people were initially confirmed dead, but with countless others missing authorities are warning that the death toll could climb much higher.
More than 840 people were injured and many buildings destroyed or damaged in the coastal areas of Banten, Lampung and Pandeglang.
Rescue workers were yesterday searching the devastated area for survivors.
Aulia Arriani, from the Red Cross, said: “Right now our volunteers are on the ground since last night and they are helping in two provinces, Banten and also Lampung.
“In Banten they are working together with searchand-rescue teams.
“Right now the people need drinking water and then also tarpaulins and they really also need medical help.”
Amid the devastation rescuers were praised for finding a five-year-old boy in the rubble more than 12 hours after the tsunami.
Police revealed on social media how they pulled the youngster, known only as Ali, from a car which had been trapped under fallen trees, after they heard his cries.
In a heart-rending video, he was seen weeping as he clung to an officer. Stunned crowds took pictures of the pair as
Ali emerged, muddy and upset but safe.
Terror
It is not clear if anyone else from his family survived.
The tsunami was triggered by undersea landslides after Anak Krakatoa – a smaller relative of the infamous Krakatoa volcanic island – erupted, officials said.
As an international relief operation was launched yesterday, Indonesian president Joko Widodo made a statement on national television.
“I want to express my deep sorrow for the victims in Serang, Pandeglang and Banten province,” he said. “May those who survived be patient.”
The huge wave hit beaches around the Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra, late on Saturday, destroying 430 houses, nine hotels and 10 ships.
Eyewitnesses told how they fled for their lives when the wall of water came ashore.
Others told of their terror as people were swept away around them.
Azki Kurniawan, 16, said: “Suddenly a one-metre wave hit me. I fell down, the water separated me from my bike. I was thrown into the fence of a building about 30metres (100ft) from the beach and held onto the fence as strong as I could, trying to resist the water, which felt like it would drag me back into the sea.
“I cried in fear, ‘Is this a tsunami?’ I was afraid I would die.”
Oystein Lund Andersen, a Norwegian volcano photographer, was on Anyer beach in West Java when the wave hit.
He said: “I was alone, my family were sleeping in a room. I was trying to photograph the erupting Krakatoa volcano.
Earlier in the evening, there was quite heavy eruption activity. But just prior to the waves hitting the beach, there was no activity at all. It was just dark out there.
“And suddenly I saw this wave coming, and I had to run.
“There were two waves. The first wave wasn’t that strong – I could run from it.”
Local resident Asep Perangkat told how he was with his family on Carita beach on Java when the wave surged through the town. “Cars were dragged about 10metres (30ft) and so were containers,” he said.
“Buildings on the edge of the beach were destroyed, trees and electricity poles fell to the ground. All the residents that are safe ran to the forest.”
Another local, Alif from Pandeglang on Java, said many victims were still searching for missing relatives. In Lampung, on Sumatra, 23-year-old Lutfi Al Rasyid said: “I could not start my motorbike so I left it. I just prayed and ran as far as I could.”
In the city of Bandar Lampung, hundreds of residents took refuge at the governor’s office.
They complained that there had been no warning that a tsunami was going to hit.
Initially disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the wave was just a tidal surge – and told the public not to panic.
He later apologised for the mistake, saying there had been confusion because no earthquake had been recorded.
Scientists said the tsunami had probably been caused by the eruption at Anak Krakatoa.
Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency also
said tidal waves may have been strengthened by the full moon.
Ilan Kelman, of the Institute for Global Health and Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College, London, said: “The tragedy in Indonesia shows the ever-present challenges we face in developing warning systems.
“It must be a continual process of working with people at risk to determine possible threats and how quickly everyone could be informed and act when one manifests.
“With the short timeframes we see here, we have a lot of work to do for improving warning systems to save lives.”
Last night, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was “monitoring the situation” but had no reports of British fatalities or injured.
It updated travel advice, warning people in the area that they should follow the advice of local authorities.
The disaster comes fewer than three months after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi, causing widespread damage and killing 2,256 people.
But the biggest tsunami to devastate the area came on Boxing Day in 2004, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead.