At least 373 people have died following a tsunami in the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra on Saturday. Rescuers used heavy machinery and bare hands to dig bodies out of mud and wreckage along a 100 km (60 mile) stretch of Java’s west coast. More than 1,400 people were injured, and about 12,000 residents had to move to higher ground, with a high-tide warning extended to Wednesday.
The tsunami destroyed more than 700 buildings, from small shops and houses to villas and hotels and people were told to evacuate to higher ground.
It took just 24 minutes after the landslide for waves to hit land, and there was no early warning for those living on the coast.
Vehicles were crushed by waves that lifted chunks of metal, felled trees, wooden beams and household items and deposited them on roads and rice fields.
Nurjana ran uphill after the tsunami hit, after her beachside snack stall was washed away.
She said: “I opened the door straight away and saved myself. I jumped over the wall.
“Everything is destroyed.”
Will Krakatau erupt again?
Anak Krakatau, which is also known as Child of Krakatau, was still erupting on Sunday night, belching white smoke and ash into the sky.
The meteorology agency that an area of about 64 hectares, or 90 soccer pitches, of the volcanic island had collapsed into the sea.
In 1883, the volcano then known as Krakatoa erupted in one of the biggest blasts in recorded history, killing more than 36,000 people in a series of tsunamis.
The global surface temperature was also lowered by one degree Celsius with its ash. Anak Krakatau is the island that emerged from the area in 1927, and has been growing ever since.
The high waves isolated hundreds of people on Sebesi island, about 12 km from the volcano.
“We are completely paralysed,” Syamsiar, a village secretary on the island, told Metro TV, calling for food and medicine.
President Joko Widodo, who is running for re-election in April, told disaster agencies to install early warning systems, but experts said that, unlike with tsunami caused by earthquakes, little could have been done to alert people that waves were coming.
MAGMA Indonesia said the volcano is “continuing eruption and ash emission”.
A statement on its website said: “Ash cloud not visible due to bad weather condition. Ash cloud moving to northeast.”