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Surprise Tsunami Hits Beaches In Indonesia Killing Nearly 200
There was absolutely no warning before a deadly tsunami struck Indonesia on Saturday, which ended up killing at least 168 people and injuring at least 745, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of public relations at Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, announced on television.
According to the country’s meteorological, climatological and geological agency, the tsunami is likely to have been triggered by a combination of underwater landslides caused by volcanic eruption. Nugroho said that the country doesn’t have the proper equipment to alert that a tsunami threat is coming.
“This is new thing for us,” Nugroho said, adding that Indonesia needs underwater sensors that would warn authorities of possible dangers such as this. “We need multi-hazard early warning system, and we need lots of it.” Nugroho also pointed out that tsunamis are much faster and less predictable than tidal waves, which are caused by atmospheric conditions.
“We used to know that a tsunami happens after an earthquake. There was no quake last night. That is why there was no warning,” he said referring to the underwater landslides. He also announced that 30 people are still missing.
The tsunami has destroyed 558 houses and heavily damaged nine hotels, 60 restaurants and 350 boats.
Indonesia has unfortunately been hit by a series of natural disasters in recent weeks, including a strong earthquake that hit the island of Sulawesi only a couple months ago on September 28. In the towns of Baleroa and Petobo, rivers of soil swept away entire neighborhoods in the aftermath of the magnitude-7.5 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.
The death toll from the quake is nearly 2,000.
Another 20 people had their lives taken in October, when torrential rains and flooding triggered mudslides that wiped out part of an elementary school in Indonesia’s North Sumatra.
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