An aerial view from an aircraft of the tsunami-hit Pangandaran beach July 18, 2006. The death toll rose swiftly towards 300 on Tuesday after a strong undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that smashed into fishing villages and resorts on Indonesia's Java island. REUTERS/DADANG TRI
An aerial view from an aircraft of the tsunami-hit Pangandaran beach July 18, 2006. The death toll rose swiftly towards 300 on Tuesday after a strong undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that smashed into fishing villages and resorts on Indonesia's Java island. REUTERS/DADANG TRI
An Indonesian man reveals a tsunami buoy that was damaged at sea and brought back to be stored, at a warehouse in the West Sumatra city of Padang, July 18, 2006. Lack of funds has crippled creation of a nationwide tsunami warning system, leaving Indonesia without a single working detection buoy, an official said on July 18, 2006, one day after waves killed more than 270 people in southern Java. REUTERS/STRINGER/INDONESIA
An Indonesian man reveals a tsunami buoy that was damaged at sea and brought back to be stored, at a warehouse in the West Sumatra city of Padang, July 18, 2006. Lack of funds has crippled creation of a nationwide tsunami warning system, leaving Indonesia without a single working detection buoy, an official said on July 18, 2006, one day after waves killed more than 270 people in southern Java. REUTERS/STRINGER/INDONESIA
(Updates death toll)
By Heru Asprihanto
PANGANDARAN, Indonesia, July 18 (Reuters) - A tsunami that swept through fishing villages and resorts on Indonesia's Java island killed 368 people and more than 200 others are missing, officials said on Tuesday.
More than 54,000 people have been displaced, they said.
There was no warning before the waves struck on Monday, despite efforts to set up warning systems after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left 230,000 dead or missing, including 170,000 in Indonesia.
But many residents and tourists on the southern Java coast recognised the signs and fled to higher ground as the sea receded before huge waves came crashing ashore.
"When the waves came, I heard people screaming and then I heard something like a plane about to crash nearby and I just ran," Uli Sutarli, a plantation worker who was on hard-hit Pangandaran beach, told Reuters.
The waves washed cars, motorbikes and boats into hotels and storefronts, flattened homes and restaurants, and flooded rice fields up to 500 metres (550 yards) from the sea along a stretch of the densely populated coastline.
An official at the welfare ministry's disaster management centre said the death toll had climbed to 368 while 235 people were missing.
At least four non-Indonesians were among the dead. One was a Dutch national, health department officer Yuyun Ruhiyat said. She had no information about the other three.
Soldiers tried to retrieve bodies trapped under rubble on Tuesday. Metro TV reported several bodies were found in trees along Pangandaran beach near Ciamis town, 270 km (170 miles) southeast of Jakarta.
POPULAR TOURIST SPOT
Anxious survivors lifted yellow sheets covering dozens of bodies lining a hospital floor as they searched for relatives in Pangandaran, which bore the brunt of the damage.
One man collapsed over the corpse of a small child, her body streaked with mud. Pangandaran's hospitals were packed with injured people.
"I was with my daughter in my house by the beach. I was preparing to leave the house when I saw the water had receded," said Yati Maryati.
"I couldn't hold on to my daughter when the wave suddenly struck and swept away my house. There's still no news of her," she cried, sitting in a hospital bed with bruises and bandages all over her body.
Some of the homeless were using floormats and sheets of plastic to make temporary shelters on hillsides on Tuesday. Relief agencies had yet to supply tents in the Pangandaran area, although truckloads of aid were beginning to arrive.
"People have started returning to their houses, although most of them are still staying on higher ground," said Pangandaran disaster centre officer Dwi Hasyim Ashari.
The U.S. Geological Survey rated the undersea quake's magnitude at 7.7. with its epicentre about 180 km (110 miles) off the hardest hit spot on Java's southern coast.
No tsunami warning system has been set up for the southern coast of Java. An Indonesian warning system was supposed to be up and running by now after the 2004 tsunami, the worst on record, but it has stalled.
Asked how many tsunami buoys Indonesia has in operation since it launched the first stage of its warning system off the coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra last year, a government official assigned to the project said: "None."
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".
Earthquakes are frequent. In May, one near the city of Yogyakarta in central Java killed more than 5,700 people.
(Additional reporting by Achmad Sukarsono, Diyan Jari, Muklis Ali, Yoga Rusmana and Muhamad Ari in Jakarta and Crack Palinggi)
Am Tag nach dem Erdbeben im Indischen Ozean und der darauf folgenden Tsunamiwelle, die die Südküste der indonesischen Insel Java traf, steigen die Opferzahlen weiter an.

Der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters zufolge hat der Tsunami mehr als 230 Menschen das Leben gekostet, 130 Personen würden noch vermisst. Andere Quellen berichten von über 300 Toten. Der indonesische Vizepräsident rechnet jedoch damit, dass die Zahl der Opfer in den nächsten Tagen noch steigen wird. Sicher ist jedoch bereits zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt, dass der Region eine Katastrophe wie im Dezember des Jahres 2004 erspart geblieben ist. Damals starben nach einem Tsunami über 220.000 Menschen.

Den ersten Rettungskräften vor Ort boten sich erschütternde Bilder: Sie fanden Leichen in Bäumen sowie in den Trümmern zerstörter Häuser. Den Überlebenden soll nun schnellstmöglich humanitäre Hilfe gewährt werden. Dringend benötigt werden Arznei- und Lebensmittel sowie Zelte für tausende Bewohner der Stadt Pangandaran, die durch die Zerstörung ihrer Häuser obdachlos geworden sind. Das indonesische Rote Kreuz wird dabei von Helfern der neuseeländischen Schwesterorganisation unterstützt. Der Außenminister von Singapur kündigte an, sein Land werde Indonesien unterstützen.

Augenzeugen berichten von immensen Schäden. Am Strand seien alle Häuser zerstört worden, und viele kleinere Hotels hätten der Wucht der Welle nicht standhalten können.

Pedi Mulyadi, ein 43-jähriger Verkäufer, schilderte seine Eindrücke: „Ich wartete zusammen mit meiner Frau am Strand auf Kundschaft. Als das Wasser kam, hielten wir einander fest und wurden 90 Meter ins Landesinnere gespült. Irgendetwas traf uns. Ich denke, es war ein Stück Holz. Als das Wasser endlich fort war, sah ich, dass meine Frau tot war.“

Das schwedische Außenministerium teilte am Dienstag mit, dass auch Ausländer unter den Opfern seien. Ein schwedischer Bürger sei gestorben, ein anderer schwer verletzt worden. Die fünf und zehn Jahre alten Söhne des Überlebenden werden vermisst.