Anthony Deutsch, Pangandaran – Rescue workers dug decomposed corpses from ruined homes and hotels in this tsunami-devastated town Thursday, and a mass burial was held for some of the 547 people killed by the waves.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono vowed to have a nationwide tsunami warning system in place by mid-2008, months ahead of schedule, following criticism that the government failed to tell residents about the impending disaster. There is none despite the 2004 tsunami that killed tens of thousands in Indonesia.
Survivors whose homes were smashed scoured the Pangandaran beach for nails, wood, tin – anything they could use to start rebuilding their lives.
"We need a family shelter," said Sakiman, 71, who was among tens of thousands waiting to return home. "The camps are crowded, inconvenient. We've received donations of rice and noodles, but can't cook them because the water is too salty."
Hundreds stood at the edge of a mass grave, some covering their mouths, as unidentified corpses were lowered into the ground. The bodies were photographed and tagged in case relatives later wanted to claim them.
"I hope nothing like this ever happens again... It's horrifying," said Yeni Sukmayani, 44, who said she came to the ceremony with her 4-year-old twins so they could see nature's devastating power for themselves.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake triggered Monday's tsunami, which pummeled a 110-mile stretch of Java island's southern coast, destroying scores of houses, restaurants and hotels. Cars, motorbikes and boats were left mangled amid fishing nets, furniture and other debris.
Police and army teams with dogs and mechanical equipment hunted for bodies in the ruins, while others searched the sea, going island to island for those listed among the missing.
The death toll stood at 547, the government's disaster coordinating board said, adding that 323 others were missing.
Indonesia was hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami that killed at least 216,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean nations – with more than half the deaths occurring in Aceh province on neighboring Sumatra island.
Although Indonesia started to install a warning system after that disaster, it is still in its early stages, and Yudhoyono wants to speed up the process.
"We want to expedite efforts to get infrastructure for the tsunami warning system," he told residents in another coastal area that was rattled Tuesday by a powerful quake. "I will work with parliament to get the budget."
The government deployed monitoring buoys off Sumatra island, but the system still needs to be extended to Java and thousands of other islands across the sprawling archipelago.
Yudhoyono said the original plan called for the creation of a nationwide network by 2009. He promised to do what he could to push forward the date by several months.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla claimed most people fled inland after the earthquake, so "in actual fact there was a kind of natural early warning system."
But almost all people interviewed by The Associated Press said they did not feel the quake that struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean, 150 miles southwest of Java's coast. One survivor, Sri Rahayu, said she would not have known what was happening if her teenage neighbor hadn't run out in panic screaming, "The water is rising! Run!"
She escaped with her 5-year-old daughter and is now living in a makeshift tent camp overlooking Pangandaran. "I am traumatized," Rahayu said, adding that she would not return home until "the government announces formally it is safe."
The tsunami has taken away the jobs of tens of thousands who worked in shops, bars or gave surfing lessons to vacationers. Businessman Sirkusumo Sudjanarko, 58, who owns the Bunga Laut seaside hotel on Pangandaran, said his business has been devastated. "I lost my bungalow and restaurant just like that," he said, estimating the damage at about $110,000. "Tourists are going to avoid this place for at least three years."
Lilianti Bachtiar, who runs the Grand Mutiara Hotel with her American husband Oscar, saved her grandchildren by grabbing them from their rooms and running to the second floor when she heard neighbors screaming.
"The waves broke down the walls and washed away the car. We don't have a business anymore. It will be at least a year before we have recovered," she said from a run-down motel in Banjar, a nearby city. Her family all survived, but she identified the body of a former employee at a temporary morgue.
Indonesia has been hit by a series of disasters – natural and man-made – since 2002. Al-Qaida-linked militants have killed at least 260 people in terrorist attacks, the devastating 2004 tsunami that struck Sumatra island left at least 131,000 dead and a May earthquake on Java killed 5,800 people.
Though Pangandaran used to be popular with foreign backpackers, well-heeled tourists and busloads of Indonesian families, it was struggling to lure back vacationers even before Monday's disaster. "Actually, tourism has yet to fully recover to the level before the Bali bombing in 2002," Sudjanarko said.