Tsunami rumours sparks panic in Indonesian town
More than 1,000 residents of the beach resort of Pangandaran ran, bicycled or drove inland amid shouts of ‘The water is coming.’
“People suddenly started running so I joined them,” said Marino, 42.
It was unclear how the rumour started. Indonesia has no nationwide tsunami warning system and coastal residents had no notice of the onrushing wave on Monday.
Amateur video aired yesterday on Metro TV showed children building sandcastles, followed by brief shots of a wall of black water bearing down on Pangandaran beach on Java island’s south coast. The camera operator runs away amid the sound of screaming.
The region has been rattled by aftershocks. A strong quake yesterday off Java’s coast — just hours after the panic in Pangandaran — caused buildings in the capital Jakarta to sway for more than a minute.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 7.7 undersea earthquake, smashed into a 110-mile stretch of Java’s coastline, which was unaffected by the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami.
Waves more than 2 metres high reached 200 metres inland in some places, destroying scores of houses, restaurants and hotels.
Cars, motorbikes and boats were left mangled amid fishing nets, furniture and other debris.
Ambulances with sirens blaring brought bodies to a cemetery in Pangandaran for a mass burial as hundreds of spectators looked on. As darkness fell, 24 unidentified corpses were tagged and laid in the ground, five children among them.
Police and army teams with sniffer dogs and mechanical equipment kept searching for survivors of the tsunami, but found only bodies amid the ruins, pushing the death toll to 531, said Maman Susanto, from the Government’s national disaster coordinating board. Several foreign tourists were among the dead.
He said 275 people were listed as missing.
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