An earthquake sent a 6-foot-high tsunami crashing into beach resorts on Java island Monday, killing at least 86 people, leaving scores missing and sending thousands fleeing to higher ground, officials, witnesses and media reports said.
Regional bulletins that the 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake was strong enough to send a killer wave steaming toward the country worst hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami did not reach the victims, because Indonesia’s main island has no warning system.
Thousands fled to higher ground along a 110-mile stretch of the densely populated island’s southern coast. The hardest-hit area appeared to be Pangandaran, an idyllic beach resort popular with tourists. Witnesses there said people shouted “
Tsunami! Tsunami!” and climbed trees or crowded into inland mosques as the wave approached.
