JAKARTA, July 17, 2006 (AFP) – Five people were killed when waves hit buildings on the south coast of Indonesia’s Java island Monday after a strong undersea quake triggered a tsunami alert, Indonesia’s president said. “Based on reports I have received, five people have been killed,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters. “The search is ongoing for those who are still missing.”
“It is important to take care of the dead and the injured,” he said.
Yudhoyono urged residents in coastal areas to move to safe places.
“We call on people to evacuate vulnerable areas. There have been at least five aftershocks,” he said, adding that military and rescue teams had been dispatched to the disaster zone.
Witnesses said waves hit buildings and houses on the south coast following the earthquake measured by the national geophysics agency at 5.5 on the Richter scale.
“Waves suddenly came and we ran to the hills. Four people from my group are still missing,” said a woman who gave her name as Teti, and who said she had been accompanying Dutch tourists when the waves hit.
“Many small hotels were destroyed,” she told ElShinta radio. “Hotels on the beach front of Pangandaran … the front parts are hit. Bo