Tsunami Strikes Java Island

At least 69 people are dead and scores more are missing after a two-metre high tsunami slammed into a beach on Indonesia’s Java island Monday.

The giant wave was triggered by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck 240 km southwest of the island’s western coast in the Indian Ocean at about 3:24pm local time.

Houses and resorts along the beach were seriously damaged or washed away, and several people were reported missing.

One woman, identified only as Teti, said people fled to higher ground to escape the wave as it approached Pangandaran beach.

“All the houses are destroyed along the beach,” she said. “Small hotels are completely destroyed and at least one restaurant was washed away.”

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed that at least five people perished in the wave, and Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa urged people living on the island’s southern coast to move inland.

“Everyone should move from the beach,” Radjasa told local media.

The quake that precipitated the wave caused buildings to sway as far away as the Indonesian capital Jakarta, and was followed by a 6.1-magnitude aftershock two hours later.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency warned immediately following the original shaker that it had the potential to trigger a tsunami along the coastlines of Java, Sumatra and the Lesser Sunda islands.

There were fears Australia’s Cocos and Christmas islands might also be at risk of a killer wave, but tourism officials there didn’t seem overly concerned.

“I think we’re OK,” said Asma Jim of the Cocos Island Tourism Association. “It’s a very small island, and I didn’t even know there had been a quake.”

Earthquakes are common to Indonesia because of the country’s location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a line of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin.

A massive tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004 killed more than 216,000, mostly in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

Then, this past May, an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale destroyed part of Java and killed more then 5,800 people.

Reading The Richter Scale:

1 to 3: Recorded on local seismographs, but generally not felt.

3 to 4: Often felt, no damage.

5: Felt widely, slight damage near epicentre.

6: Damage to poorly constructed buildings and other structures within 10 km.

7: “Major” earthquake, causes serious damage up to 100 km.

8: “Great” earthquake, great destruction, loss of life over several 100 km.

9: Rare great earthquake, major damage over a large region over 1000 km.