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INDONESIA-TSUNAMI-PRESIDENTS COMMENT
Indonesia’s president comments on deadly tsunami
MOSCOW, Dec 24,2018(BSS /TASS)- Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said that relevant agencies could not warn of the tsunami which killed more than 280 people beforehand. He said about it on Monday after visiting Pandeglang Regency in Banten Province on the island of Java, news portal Detik reported.
“Experts still cannot name the exact reason for the disaster, so it is necessary to refrain from making conclusions,” Widodo said. “The tsunami is of a vague nature, and various agencies responsible for the warning could not detect its approach beforehand.
” The president noted that “the task was set for the corresponding agencies to check the operating equipment and urgently replace the failed elements of the nationwide system of early tsunami warning.”
“It will be done at the beginning of the next year,” Widodo said.
Spokesman for the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) Sutopo Nugroho earlier reported that 281 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured in the disaster. To date, 57 people are missing, but this figure is expected to grow. A total of 229 deaths were earlier reported.
BSS/TASS/RQ/14:35HRS