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Death Toll in Recent Tsunami Rises

The death toll of a recent devastating Indonesian tsunami has now reached at least 520 people. Indonesian government officials said they had received a warning about the incoming wave following an earthquake, but were not able to convey the emergency to all of the country?s coastal areas in time. Another earthquake rocked the island on July 19, but no reports of injuries or damage emerged in the immediate aftermath. A Red Cross spokesman in the capital Jakarta, Peter Cameron, told news agencies that the authorities had only received a warning about 20 minutes before the tsunami struck.

"Our system is not yet working properly. We are still developing a communication system especially for the regions," government spokesmen have stated. "By the time they got it and got ready to disseminate it, the tsunami had already hit the coast". Maman Susanto, of Indonesia?s national disaster coordinating board, reports that 275 people were still listed as missing as of Thursday of this past week.

The epicenter of the newest quake was under the island of Java`s southwestern coast. Officials of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reassured Indonesians that no new tsunami was expected from this most recent earthquake. After the catastrophic 2004 Asian tsunami which killed tens of thousands, Indonesia is still in the process of building an early warning system.