Tsunami kills scores in Indonesia

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia – A tsunami crashed into beach resorts and fishing villages on Java island Monday, killing at least 262 people and leaving more than 160 missing after bulletins failed to reach the region because no warning system was in place.

The Java coastal area was spared by the devastating Asian tsunami of 2004, but many residents recognized the danger when they saw the sea recede.

Frantic tourists and villagers shouted “Tsunami! Tsunami!” as the wave more than 6 feet high approached. Some climbed trees or fled to higher ground to escape while others crowded into inland mosques to pray.

At least 23,000 people fled their homes, either because they were destroyed or in fear of another tsunami, Dudi Junaidi, an official at an emergency coordination post in the worst-hit area of Pangandaran on Java’s southern coast, said today.

“We saw a big wall of black water. I ran with my son in my arms. When I looked back, the waves were at our house, they destroyed our house,” said Ita Anita, who was on the beach with her 11-month-old child and other relatives. “The water knocked me down, my son slipped out of my hands and was taken by the water.”

Early today, villagers and soldiers dug through destroyed homes and hotels looking for survivors as the death toll rose.

Junaidi said at least 172 people were killed and 85 others were missing in the Panganderan area. He said a Pakistani national, a Swedish national and a Dutch national were among the dead. Most of the victims were believed to be Indonesians.

In nearby Cilacap district, at least 77 were killed and more than 70 others were missing, said central Java police chief Dody Sumantiawan. Thirteen died elsewhere along the coast, officials and el-Shinta radio station reported.

“I don’t mind losing any of my property, but please God return my son,” said Basril, as he and wife tearfully searched though mounds of debris piled on the beach at Pangandaran.

Regional agencies had warned that a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck 150 miles off Indonesia’s southern coast was strong enough to create a tsunami on Java. But there was no warning system for those on the southern coast.

The waves sent boats, cars and motorbikes crashing into resorts and fishing villages. Houses and restaurants were flattened along a 110-mile stretch of the densely populated island’s southern coast.

A witness told el-Shinta he saw the ocean withdraw 1,500 feet from the beach a half-hour before the wave smashed ashore, a typical phenomenon before a tsunami.

“I could see fish jumping around on the ocean floor,” Miswan said.

Witnesses said the wave came several hundred yards inland in some places. Buildings sit close to the beach in Pangandaran.

Roads were blocked and power cut to much of the area. Damage and casualties were reported at several places along the 110 miles of beach affected, officials and media reports said.

Indonesia has installed a warning system across much of Sumatra island but not on Java. The government has been planning to extend the warning system there by 2007.

Java was hit seven weeks ago by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 5,800 people, but was spared by the 2004 tsunami that killed 216,000. The May earthquake did not affect the part of the island hit by Monday’s tsunami.

Chris Goldfinger, an earthquake expert at the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, said Monday’s quake was probably not related to the 2004 tsunami, though some of the tremors in the region since then were related.