Victor Tjahjadi, Pangandaran – Rescuers have dug with bare hands in a grim search for more bodies after more than 520 people were confirmed killed in the second tsunami to strike Indonesia in as many years.
The three-metre (10-foot) tsunami lashed the densely-populated south coast of Java island on Monday, sparking memories of the 2004 catastrophe that left 220,000 people dead across Asia, 168,000 of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.
Soldiers in Pangandaran, a resort area that suffered some of the worst damage, lacked heavy equipment to move debris and resorted to digging through the wreckage with their bare hands.
"We are looking for people who are still missing or buried under the rubble as well as clearing the debris," army officer Deden Rajab, who led a group of 27 soldiers at work here, told AFP. Wasdi bin Umri, a spokesman for Ciamis district which includes the area, said however that enough heavy equipment for the relief work was being used.
Bodies which remained unidentified or unclaimed were to be buried in separate graves starting Wednesday afternoon and would be photographed so that their families can identify them later, he told AFP.
With nerves still on edge, rumours of a fresh tsunami in Pangandaran triggered panic Wednesday when four strong quakes of magnitudes measuring 4.9 to 5.4 rattled the area.
They were among 52 strong aftershocks to have hit since Monday's 7.7-magnitude undersea quake unleashed the tsunami, a meteorology official said in Jakarta.
Frightened residents in Pangandaran jumped on motorbikes or in cars, almost causing traffic accidents as they tried to reach higher ground. Crying women and children ran towards the town's main mosque and even soldiers and police were seen fleeing the beach area, witnesses told AFP.
"There was a rising tide, but we can be sure that won't be a new tsunami," bin Umri said. "People are still traumatised. That's why they ran to higher ground in panic when they heard the rumours."
At least 525 people were killed by Monday's waves, the National Disaster Management Coordinating Agency said, while 273 people were still missing. About 38,000 people have been displaced, it said. At least six foreigners were believed among the dead.
Aid meanwhile trickled through as a haphazard relief operation took shape. The UN's World Food Programme said two trucks carrying 15 tonnes of noodles and high-energy biscuits had arrived in Pangandaran and begun unloading.
"We're trying to reach around 20,000 people in the next week," spokesman Barry Came told AFP, adding that a team of WFP staff were leaving Wednesday for the area to "figure out exactly what to do."
Relief coordinator Subur Dwiyano told the Detikcom online news agency that the local government had received food and cash aid. "So far we have received 650 million rupiah (71,000 dollars) in cash. The plan is to distribute the cash to relatives of dead victims," he said. He did not say how much each family would receive. He said 10 public kitchens had also been set up in Pangandaran.
One truck carrying a tonne of food supplies donated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's wife arrived in the battered resort area. Eight trucks filled mostly with mineral water also arrived in the district of Cilacap, where more than 100 lives were lost.
A district official Sugiono said three large military tents and two public kitchens had been set up while four rubber boats were deployed to help in the search for the missing. "There's still confusion about what to do. The main priority is to save lives," he told AFP.
In Kebumen district, authorities dispatched rice and noodles to safe shelters where refugees were too afraid to return to the coast. "When people began to shout: 'Tsunami, tsunami!', all I could think of was to run for my life," said Sudarmin, a 48-year-old coconut farmer from Ayeh, a small village in the district, who was at a shelter.
The Asian Development Bank said it was ready to provide support to Indonesia Wednesday while Britain also offered assistance.