A tsunami triggered by a strong undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Java island on Monday killed at least 104 people, swept away buildings and damaged hundreds of fishing boats, officials and witnesses said.
News of the disaster spread panic across a region still recovering from a tsunami less than two years ago in which nearly 230,000 people were killed or reported missing, mostly in Indonesia. But there were no reports of casualties or damage in any other country from Monday's tsunami.
Waves up to 1.5 metres (five feet) high crashed into Pangandaran beach near the town of Ciamis, 270 km south-east of Jakarta, killing 37 people, a local official said.
Indonesia's official Antara news agency reported deaths had occurred at two other beach resorts in Java, and Metro TV put the number of dead above 30 in the central Java port of Cilacap.
The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2, while the US 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. Some people were still fleeing the coastal area hours later as rumours spread there could be another quake and tsunami.
Some workers in high-rise Jakarta buildings felt the quake, which struck more than 40 km under the Indian Ocean and was centred 180 km off Pangandaran beach, and fled their offices. Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia. In May, an earthquake near the central Java city of Yogyakarta killed more than 5,700 people.
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