toll of a new earthquake and tsunami rose to at least over 300.
201 were confirmed dead, but a further 125 were still missing, a day after the tsunami struck the coastal areas, the Health Ministry said. Roughly 300 people were injured in the tsunami that also displaced 35,000 people, said Rustam S. Pakava, head of the Health Ministry’s crisis management team.
Rescue teams said the toll was likely to rise significantly because they were still searching through rubble, many roads were impassable, many houses had been washed away and in pitch darkness it was difficult to see corpses. At least seven of those who died were foreigners from countries including Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands, officials said.
It came as "many churches" were still recovering from a May 27 earthquake near Java’s historic city of Yogyakarta. Close to 5,000 people died in the quake while nearly 39,0000 people were injured, according to figures released by the Action by Churches Together (ACT) aid group, which unites different denominations.
VILLAGES IMPACTED
"The [May 27] earthquake affected villages all across Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces. Many houses, churches, mosques, stores, government offices, and public facilities were destroyed or damaged. Widespread damage of houses resulted in a large number of displaced people which is posing a challenge for the humanitarian response, particularly in health and sanitation," the ACT said recently.
It was believed Tuesday, July 18, that the July 17 tsunami added therefore to what aid workers see as an already serious situation. Witnesses told reporters that "very many" flimsy homes along the coast for at least 20 miles (32 kilometers) in each direction had been destroyed as two waves, about seven meters (23ft) and two meters high surged ashore. The water was reportedly waist-deep more than half a mile inland.
Much damage was inflicted by hundreds of wooden fishing boats becoming battering rams as they ploughed through shacks and fields. Power failed and fixed phone lines were cut, reporters said.
CHRISTIANS PERSECUTED
The latest humanitarian crisis also came amid reports of persecution of Christians by Muslim militants and authorities on Java island and elsewhere in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation.
It was not immediately clear how this would impact aid operations, in which Christian groups are also involved. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the evacuation of everyone in areas along the south-west coast considered at risk of further tsunamis.
The epicenter of the 7.7-magnitude quake was about 150 miles (240 kilometers) off the south-west coast of Java. It was reportedly followed by five big aftershocks of magnitude 6.1 and many smaller ones. The tremors apparently also shook buildings in Jakarta, about 170 (272 kilometers) away. (With reports from Indonesia and BosNewsLife Research).
