Huge waves still pounding Indonesia
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Huge waves still pounding Indonesia*
From correspondents in Jakarta
May 20, 2007 12:51am
Article from: Reuters
MASSIVE waves that have damaged hundreds of homes and displaced
thousands of people pounded Indonesia's coastlines for a third day
today, forcing fishermen to stay on land and keeping tourists from the
beaches.
One person was killed by the huge waves that began hitting coasts across
the sprawling archipelago on Thursday and dozens of fishing boats were
destroyed by the rushing waters that rose as high as 7m in some areas.
Weather officials say the waves are a result of the accumulation of
winds in one spot and are not linked with annual weather patterns.
The waves receded to 1.5-2m in some parts today, but weather officials
still warned fishermen against sailing in the Java Sea and forbade
people from surfing on the popular Kuta beach in the tourist island of Bali.
“Today they (the waves) have decreased relatively. Our forecast for
tomorrow is below 1.5m,” Kukuh Ribudiyanto, an official at the national
meteorology and geophysics agency, said.
However, the waves could rise up to 3m in the Indian Ocean near the
western part of Java, the country's most densely populated island, he said.
The crashing waves that have struck all the way from Aceh on the
northern tip of Sumatra, which was hit by a monster tsunami in December
2004, to the resort island of Bali have triggered panic among residents
in some parts.
Among the worst hit was Sukabumi regency in West Java where more than
600 people have fled from their homes.
Memories of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 170,000
people in Aceh alone are still fresh in the minds of many Indonesians.