Rumors of Another Tsunami Cast Panic Among Locals

Rumors regarding another alleged tsunami wave in Indonesia have spread panic among the local residents of Pangandaran Beach summer resort on Wednesday, the hardest hit by the 7.7 degree magnitude undersea earthquake and the subsequent tsunami wave on Monday. In the meantime the death toll rose to 531 civilians, while 270 are still reported missing.

More than 1,000 locals have fled the town toward Indonesia inland, on foot, bicycles or cars shouting "the water is coming!". Most of them had not actually heard anything concrete, only bits and fragments. Still, it was enough to alert them and determine them to leave the resort.

Officials stated that they did not know how the rumor started or who created it, since Indonesia does not have a full nationwide tsunami warning system. A program like this does indeed exist but it has not been completed. Moreover, no one was informed on Monday about the tragedy that was going to occur.

However, the interesting, yet unfortunate, part of this piece of news is that several hours after the rumors have been passed along, a very strong earthquake, probably a reply to Monday's one, off Java island's coast, shattered buildings in capital Jakarta for more than a minute. There have been no official reports of massive damages or casualties yet. The preliminary magnitude of Wednesday's earthquake was established to be 6.1. In an interview with local Metro TV station, Suharjono, the chief of the earthquake division at the meteorological agency in Jakarta, stated that the 6.1 magnitude quake would not trigger a tsunami wave since it is too weak.

Rescue teams continue to search for survivors of Monday's tsunami.