INDONESIA: Indonesia tsunami toll reaches 231, hunt on for more.

Rescuers picked through debris on Indonesia's Java island on Tuesday (July 18), searching for survivors a day after a tsunami killed at least 230 people. Officials said nearly 130 people were still missing after Monday's huge waves, triggered by an undersea earthquake, crashed into Java's southern coast, washing away buildings, wooden cottages and kiosks lining the shoreline facing the Indian Ocean. Many people returned to salvage their belongings such as boat engines and clothes from the debris of their homes after the tsunami that destroyed fishing boats and damaged cafes, motels and restaurants about 500 metres from the coast line. Soldiers were trying to retrieve bodies trapped under a collapsed concrete wall, local tv reported several bodies found in trees after waves up to 1.5 metres (five feet) high pummelled Pangandaran beach near the town of Ciamis, 270 km (170 miles) southeast of Jakarta. Pangandaran, the area that bore the brunt of Monday's tsunami, is a popular local tourist spot with many small hotels on the beach. It is close to a nature reserve. "I was having a drink at a bar, and then the waitress went out and suddenly she came back, running, screaming and I saw this big cloud of dark sea water coming up to me. So I grabbed the bag and started running and I ended up in the kitchen and there was no door, cos it was locked and then the water grabbed me and pulled me under and I was thinking this is the end, I'm going down, I'm going to drown, and then suddenly the wall of the kitchen collapsed and it freed me so I could get hold of the cooler box, it kept me floating, and in the end it threw me somewhere in the (unclear) of a hotel next door," said Ian, a Belgian tourist. But there were no reports of casualties or damage in any other country from Monday's tsunami. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the death toll was expected to climb after Monday's tsunami crashed down on the shores of densely-populated Java island. He said the government's priority was to provide healthcare, food and shelter and then move to evaluating the damage and reconstruction of houses. Anxious survivors lifted sheets covering dozens of bodies lining a hospital floor as they searched for relatives missing after the killer waves battered their homes, leaving the area strewn with bamboo poles, fallen trees and collapsed straw huts. Dozens of people fled in the dark on motorcycles and cars with horns blaring and headlights flashing early on Tuesday as rumours swirled of another tsunami, but government officials assured them there was no reason to panic. The U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2, while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 7.7. Indonesia's state meteorology and geophysics agency said the quake's strength was 6.8 on the Richter Scale. Indonesia's 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the "Pacific Ring of Fire". The December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was triggered by a massive earthquake. Nearly 170,000 people were killed or reported missing in Indonesia's Aceh province. Tens of thousands died elsewhere, the majority in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia. In May, an earthquake near the central Java city of Yogyakarta killed more than 5,700 people.

ITN Source | July 18, 2006

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