Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Another tsunami hits Indonesia

Rescuers search for Java tsunami survivors - More than 339 killed, 136 still missing after 6-foot wave hits Indonesia
Associated Press

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia - Tearful parents searched for missing children and soldiers dug through the debris Tuesday of homes flattened by the second tsunami to hit Indonesia in as many years. At least 339 people were killed, officials said, with more than 600 injured. Bodies covered in white sheets piled up at makeshift morgues — with the corpse of at least one woman lying on a beach long popular with local and foreign tourists. "I don't mind losing any of my property, but please God return my son," said Basril, a villager, as he and his wife searched though mounds of rubble piled up at Pangandaran resort on Java island's southern coast. The area hit by Monday's disaster was spared by the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami, and many residents said they did not even feel the 7.7-magnitude undersea quake that unleashed the two-yard-high wall of water. But some recognized the danger when they saw the sea recede and fled to higher ground, screaming "Tsunami! Tsunami!" See: Toll rises in Indonesia tsunami

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