CARITA, Indonesia, Dec 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A volcano-triggered tsunami
has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming
without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, officials said
Sunday, voicing fears that the toll would rise further.
Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave, which hit the coast of
southern Sumatra and the western tip of Java about 9:30 pm (1430 GMT) on
Saturday after a volcano known as the “child” of Krakatoa erupted, national
disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
Dramatic video posted on social media showed a wall of water suddenly
crashing into a concert by pop group “Seventeen” — hurling band members off
the stage and then flooding into the audience.
In a tearful Instagram post, frontman Riefian Fajarsyah said the band’s
bassist and road manager had been killed and his wife was missing.
Search and rescue teams were scouring rubble for survivors, with 222 people
confirmed dead, 843 people injured and 28 missing, Nugroho said.
Tsunamis triggered by volcanic eruptions are relatively rare, caused by the
sudden displacement of water or “slope failure”, according to the
International Tsunami Information Centre.
Unlike those triggered by earthquakes, they give authorities no time to
warn residents of the impending threat.
The destructive wave left a trail of uprooted trees and debris strewn
across beaches. A tangled mess of corrugated steel roofing, timber and rubble
was dragged inland at Carita beach, a popular spot for day-trippers on the
west coast of Java.
Photographer Oystein Andersen described how he was caught up in the
disaster while on the beach taking photos of Anak Krakatoa.
“I suddenly saw a big wave,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
“I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m inland. (The)
next wave entered the hotel area where I was staying and downed cars on the
road behind it.”
Asep Perangkat said he was with his family when the wave surged through
Carita, carving a swathe of destruction.
“Cars were dragged about 10 metres and so were containers,” Perangkat told
AFP.
“Buildings on the edge of the beach were destroyed, trees and electric
poles fell to the ground. In Lampung province, on the other side of the
strait, Lutfi Al Rasyid said he fled the beach in Kalianda city, fearing for
his life.
“I could not start my motorbike so I left it and I ran… I just prayed and
ran as far as I could,” the 23-year-old told AFP.
Kathy Mueller from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies said the toll was likely to rise as the conditions on the
ground became clearer.
“The situation, and the death toll, will remain fluid over the next days
and even weeks,” she told AFP.
Teams of aid workers were helping to evacuate the injured and bring in
clean water, tarpaulins and provide shelter, she added, saying the group was
preparing for the possibility of diseases breaking out in the tsunami zone.
– Initial error –
Anak Krakatoa, which forms a small island in the Sunda Strait between Java
and Sumatra, emerged around 1928 in the crater left by Krakatoa, which
erupted in 1883 killing at least 36,000 people.
“The cause of the undersea landslide was due to volcanic activity of Anak
Krakatoa, which coincided with a high tide due to the full moon,” Nugroho
told reporters in Yogyakarta.
He also said the death toll would likely increase.
Indonesian authorities initially claimed the wave was not a tsunami, but
instead a tidal surge and urged the public not to panic.
Nugroho later apologised for the mistake on Twitter, saying because there
was no earthquake it had been difficult to ascertain the cause of the
incident early on. “If there is an initial error we’re sorry,” he wrote.
The wave swamped parts of the coast around the Sunda Strait, leaving at
least 164 people dead in worst affected Pandeglang district on Java’s western
tip. Large numbers of casualties were recorded at two hotels in the area.
Eleven people died further north in Serang, while 48 were killed in South
Lampung, on Sumatra island.
“This number is predicted to increase because not all victims have been
successfully evacuated, not all health centres have reported victims and not
all locations have got complete data,” Nugroho said.
Heavy equipment was being transported to badly hit areas to help search for
victims and evacuation posts and public kitchens were being set up for
evacuees, he added.
According to Indonesia’s geological agency, Anak Krakatoa had been showing
signs of heightened activity for days, spewing plumes of ash thousands of
metres into the air.
The volcano erupted again just after 9:00 pm on Saturday, the agency said.
Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth due to its
position straddling the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic
plates collide.
Most recently in the city of Palu on Sulawesi island a quake and tsunami in
September killed thousands of people.
On December 26, 2004 a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea
earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000
people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.