Rescuers search through rubble as Indonesia tsunami toll nears 400

Bloomberg

Rescuers hunted for survivors and victims under the rubble of hundreds of hotels and houses flattened by a deadly tsunami along Indonesia’s Sunda Strait with authorities warning the death toll may climb from the 373 already confirmed.
Most of the victims were local holidaymakers staying in the hotels and bungalows along the popular beaches in Lampung and Banten provinces, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. More than 1,450 people were injured and dozens are missing after tsunami waves lashed the provinces late on Saturday, the agency said.
The deadly wave was likely triggered by flank collapse — where a section of the volcano gives way — in the south and southwest sides of Mount Anak Krakatau, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation in statement. Further investigation and analysis are being carried out to learn other factors that may play a role.
“The tsunami that occurred is a special case and rare in the world, as well as it’s difficult to predict partial collapse in a volcano,” the volcanology agency said in a statement. “Tsunami monitoring in the Sunda Strait by both tidal stations in the surrounding of Mount Anak Krakatau and/or buoys, and visual monitoring with remote sensing is necessary.”
Indonesia’s meteorological agency was previously suspected under-sea erosion triggered by volcanic activity of Mount Anak Krakatau, the disaster mitigation agency’s spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said. Authorities failed to pick up the signs of tsunami and alert residents, catching holidaymakers unawares and increasing the casualties.
The death toll could climb as searchers access more areas hit by the tsunami in Pandeglang, South Lampung, Serang, Tanggamus, Pesawaran regencies, Nugroho said.
Widodo, known as Jokowi, headed to the tsunami affected regions on Monday after ordering authorities to step up relief operations, according to an official statement.
The seventh president in Southeast Asia’s largest economy has instructed the purchase of early warning system equipment by the met agency, known as BMKG, and to include disaster awareness into school curriculum.
“The tsunami pattern in the Sunda Strait is beyond the BMKG prediction, hence people weren’t prepared to rescue themselves,” Jokowi’s office said in a statement. Generally, a tsunami will come after an earthquake, but this time, “it came without being preceded by a quake.”