At least 222 people were killed, with hundreds more injured and missing, including members of a pop band, after a tsunami hit the coastline of west Java and Sumatra, Indonesia on Saturday. There was no warning before the waves struck the Pandeglang district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of public relations at Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency. The tsunami appears to have been triggered by a combination of underwater landslides caused by the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the Sunda Strait that lies between the islands of Java and Sumatra. Eyewitnesses described fleeing for their lives as beachfront hotels and homes were swept away by a towering wall of water on Saturday evening. The waves caused a stage to collapse in the Tanjung Lesung beach resort while holidaymakers and locals were watching the Indonesian pop band Seventeen. One member of the band has been confirmed dead as well as the manager, according to the Jakarta Post. The newspaper said all the other band members were still missing. Even though Indonesia was the worst country affected by the devastating Boxing Day 2004 tsunami that killed hundred of thousands of people, it still lacks the proper equipment to alert that a tsunami threat is coming.
Dramatic footage shows tsunami waves toppling stage where Indonesian band was performing:
Chei
ReplyDeleteGOSH!!
ReplyDelete