December 25, 2018
Indonesia battered by devastating quakes and tsunamis. Sitting on the geologically active Pacific 'Ring of Fire', the vast archipelago is frequently hit natural disasters. A tsunami has killed more than 370 people and injured hundreds on the shorelines of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, the latest disaster to hit the vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and home to 260 million people. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said another tsunami was a possibility because of the continued volcanic eruptions of Anak Krakatau.
"Recommendations from [the] Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency are that people should not carry out activities on the beach and stay away from the coast for a while," he said.
He said there was no tsunami advance warning system the night of the disaster, adding that because of lack of funds, vandalism to the buoys and technical faults there had been no operational tsunami warning system since 2012.
President Joko Widodo visited the area on Monday and said an alert system was needed.
Saturday's tsunami followed an underwater landslide believed to have been caused by the erupting Anak Krakatau volcano nearby. The periodically active volcano has been spewing ash and lava since June.
Indonesia sits on the geologically active Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is frequently hit by earthquakes and tsunamis.
Here are some of the major disasters in recent years:
- September 2018: More than 2,000 people are killed by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated the city of Palu, on the west coast of Sulawesi island, and the areas around it. Tens of thousands were left homeless.
August 2018: Major earthquakes hit Indonesia's tourist island of Lombok, killing more than 500 people, mostly on the northern side of the island.
- December 2016: A powerful and shallow quake strikes the Pidie Jaya regency in Aceh, northern Sumatra, causing destruction and panic as people were reminded by the devastation of a deadly 2004 quake and tsunami. No tsunami was triggered, but more than 100 were killed by fallen buildings.
- October 2010: A 7.5 magnitude tremblor hits one of the Mentawai Islands, off Sumatra, triggering a tsunami of up to 10 metres. Around 300 people are killed and dozens of villages are destroyed.
- September 2009: A 7.6 magnitude quake strikes near the city of Padang, capital of West Sumatra province. More than 1,100 people are killed.
- July 2006: A 6.8 magnitude quake hits south of Java, Indonesia's most populated island, triggering a tsunami that smashed into the southern coast, killing nearly 700 people. Tens of thousands are displaced.
- May 2006: A shallow earthquake rocks the area around ancient royal city of Yogyakarta in Java killing at least 5,500 and destroying or damaging 150,000 homes.
- March/April 2005: A series of strong quakes hit the western coast of Sumatra. Hundreds die in Nias Island, off the coast of the Sumatra.
- December 2004: A massive 9.1 magnitude earthquake on the western coast of Indonesia's Aceh province triggers a tsunami that strikes 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline. Indonesia is the hardest hit, with more than 120,000 people killed in Aceh, where entire communities are wiped out.