Kafil Yamin, Bandung – As the death toll in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Java island's south coast on Monday passes the 500 mark, Indonesian officials admit they were caught by surprise – despite the elaborate precautions they took after the bigger December 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 167,700 people in Aceh.
Indonesia's Social Ministry estimates that at least 530 people have been killed, 240 people are missing and hundreds injured in the latest natural disaster to ravage Indonesia. In the worst-hit Pangandaran beach town in southern Java, hotels, restaurants, houses and public facilities were destroyed.
Officials said more casualties were expected as rescue teams continued to search for survivors and dead bodies among the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Monday's tremor measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, according to an official at Jakarta's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. The quake then created 5-meter-high waves that crashed into Java's southwest coast, sending thousands of residents scrambling for higher ground.
Officials said 42,000 people living along Pangandaran beach had taken refuge in higher inland areas, while 52,000 residents of Cilacap, Central Java, had fled their homes and were now in refugee camps situated in the island's interior.
Soon after the initial earthquake, which caused tremors both on Java and underwater, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii warned Indonesia of a possible tsunami wave. But Indonesian officials, who received detection equipment and technical assistance after the 2004 Aceh disaster, were unable to put the technology to timely use.
Surono, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics department, said the tsunami detector was not functioning when the killer waves struck. He said one reason for the government's inadequate response was a strong belief among scientists that Java's south coast was a tsunami-free region. "Our predictions were wrong," said Surono.
Kusmayanto Kadiman, minister for science and technology, said the government did not react to the PTWC's alert because it wanted to avoid creating panic and alarm. "Had the tsunami not occurred, what would have happened?" he asked while speaking to reporters in Jakarta. However, Kadiman did say that standing plans to install a nationwide tsunami early-warning system would be accelerated.
The quake was also felt in the capital Jakarta and several cities in West Java, though so far there have not been any reports of inland damage. Monday's tremor represents the latest in a series of powerful earthquakes to rock Indonesia.
On Cilacap beach in Central Java, where 107 people have so far been reported dead, the tsunami destroyed the area's largest power plant, cutting off electricity to the entire province. It's still unclear how much crucial infrastructure the killer waves damaged or destroyed.
Hundreds of people saved themselves by rushing toward nearby hills, fearing a repeat of the 2004 tsunami that killed so many people in Aceh. "We were in total panic and ran to the hills. Almost an entire village here was inundated by water," Maswan, a resident of Pangandaran, told the RCTI TV channel. Pangandaran survivors said they saw the wave reach a height of 5 meters before it crashed on to the coast. The waves destroyed at least 440 fishing boats and hundreds of shops along Logending Beach in Central Java. Most of the boats were anchored around a local fish auction site, Antara news agency reported.
On May 27, a strong earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale rocked Central Java's cultural city of Yogyakarta and nearby areas, killing about 6,000 people and injuring thousands more. Yogyakarta and its surrounding villages were just beginning reconstruction work when the latest tsunami struck.
Indonesia is located along the Pacific volcanic belt known as the Ring of Fire, where earthquakes and volcanoes are common. On December 26, 2004, a 9.1 earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra triggered a massive tsunami that slammed into nine countries around the Indian Ocean and destroyed half of Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh, and several coastal villages.
Indonesia's military has deployed 2,000 personnel on rescue missions on the main sites. "They will work on evacuation, medical treatment and distribution of relief," said Marshal Mohammad Suparto, chief of the Indonesia Military Information Center.
Monday's tsunami has added to the burden of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is already supervising reconstruction in Aceh and restoration work in Yogyakarta, home to some of Indonesia's internationally recognized heritage sites.
Yudhoyono, whose 21-month-old presidency has been attended by several massive natural disasters, asked local administration heads in Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and Papua to be cautious and well prepared for further tsunamis.
"We have been going through a series of miserable disasters. I hope we learned a lot of lessons from this," Yudhoyono said.
[Inter Press Service.]