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Sunda Strait tsunami death toll hits 429, Navy discovers bodies at sea
More than 16,000 people in the disaster-hit areas have left their homes to seek shelter elsewhere.
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Search and rescue personnel retrieve a body on Dec. 24 from Carita Beach in Pandeglang, Banten. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he death toll from the tsunami that hit Banten and Lampung provinces on the evening of Dec. 22 has reached 429 at 1 p.m.on Tuesday.
The toll was likely to continue rising as search-and-rescue teams were still finding bodies in the water and washed up on small outer islands, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press conference on Tuesday.
"The data will change, as the joint search team is scouring Pandeglang, Serang, South Lampung, Penawaran and Tenggamus [regencies]," Sutopo said.
By 1 p.m. on Christmas Day, 429 had been killed, 1,485 injured and 154 remained missing, while 16,082 people sought safety and shelter away from their houses.
The BNPB's records showed that 883 houses, 73 hotels and villas, 60 shops and stalls, 434 boats and 41 motor vehicles were damaged in the Sunda Strait tsunami.
Pandeglang had recorded the highest death toll of 290, said Sutopo.
The emergency response in Pandeglang would last 14 days until Jan. 4, 2019, while it would last seven days in Lampung Selatan regency through Dec. 29.
Sutopo said the Indonesian Navy had sent out ships to help in the search for bodies and survivors, and had discovered several bodies in the water and on small offshore islands of Java.
He added that overland access was disrupted to seven villages on Java's southwestern tip. "Even under normal conditions, the roads in that area are poor," he said.
