JAKARTA -- The total casualty of a tsunami triggered by the eruption of Child of Krakatoa volcano has increased to 168 people in coastal areas of Sunda Strait of western Indonesia, a disaster agency official said here Sunday.
The catastrophe killed at least 168 people, wounded at least 745 ones and collapsed a total of 430 houses and nine hotels, and caused damages to scores of ships, spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
"The figures are expected to rise as the current risk assessment has not reached all affected areas," he said in a press conference.
Evacuation for the victims of the tsunami in Pandeglang District, the worst hit area, in Banten province, Serang District of the province and Lampung Selatan district in Lampung district, is being undertaken by rescuers, said Sutopo.
A total of 624 injured people are being treated in Pandeglang District, he added.
Huge waves rattled residential areas and several tourist destinations along the coastal areas of Sunda Strait, including Pangdeglang, Pantai Tanjung Lesung, Sumur, Penimbang, Teluk Lada dan Carita.
"When the tragedy occurred, many people were spending their time along the coastal areas of Pandeglang," Sutopo said.
The waters submerged the area with the height of four to five meters, leaving scores of people missing, head of emergency department of disaster management agency in the district, Endang Permana, said.
"Many people were missing, they were swept by waves when they were watching a performance in coastal area," Permana told Xinhua over phone from the district.
The meteorology and geophysics agency bans local community from having activities in the coastal areas of the strait by far, as investigation on the risks of the volcano eruption is being undertaken.
In Lampung Selatan District, evacuation of those under the ruble of collapsed buildings and search for missing persons who were swept by waves during the tsunami are getting underway, said Ketut Sukerta, head of disaster management agency in the district.
"Over 100 buildings were collapsed, we are now attempting to rescue the people trapped under the rubble and to find those swept by the waves," he told Xinhua by phone from Lampung Selatan District.
The national search and rescue office have deployed its personnel to continue the search and rescue operations, head of communication for media of the national search and rescue office Yusuf Latief said.
"We are ready for deployment of more personnel and equipment to recover and rescue the affected people," he told Xinhua over phone.
By far, Latief said, the search and evacuation mission is still carried out in a manual way, but if there is a request for heavy machinery equipment and other devices, the office would immediately comply with it, Latief said.
The eruption of Child of Krakatoa volcano has triggered landslides at the sea bed that culminated to tsunami, which was emboldened by the effect of full moon, at 21:27 p.m. Jakarta time (1427 GMT), head of the meteorology and geophysics agency Dwikorita Karnawati said.
Child of Krakatoa is one of Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation home to 17,500 islands and sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so-called "the Pacific Ring of Fire". (Xinhua)
