The National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administrations Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported that a
six-foot tsunami was generated by an earthquake of 7.7-magnitude
hit the Indian Ocean south of Java, Indonesia, July 17 shortly
after 3 p.m. local time.
The wave swept over
beach resorts and fishing villages, killing more than 80 people,
according to the Indonesian Red Cross.
No reports were
available on foreign casualties at press time, but tourist traffic
from the U.S. has been extremely light in recent years after the
State Dept. issued warnings in reference to an Oct. 1, 2005,
bombing incident in which three simultaneous explosions killed 23
people.
The latest tsunami
occurred off the coast of Java, approximately due south of Jakarta,
the capital of Indonesia and the largest city on the island. The
Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that left roughly 187,000 people
dead after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Aceh,
Sumatra, the largest island in the Indonesia chain and island to
the west of Java and just south of Malaysia and
Thailand.
To contact the
reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to David Cogswell at
[email protected].